Pressure mounts on Texas to address brutal heat crisis in prison cells | US prisons

Texas, the state with the largest prison population in the United States, is facing mounting legal pressure to address an ongoing severe heat crisis in its cells as extreme summer temperatures subject inmates to pain, illness and even death.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), the state agency that runs dozens of prisons, has been hit by a new wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of Jason Wilson. The inmate was found dead in solitary confinement in the Coffield unit in July 2024.

family civil complaintThe lawsuit, filed in a federal district court in Houston, accuses the state of imposing cruel and unusual punishment on the prisoner, which “led to his death in a brutally hot, unair-conditioned cell.” The refusal to provide Wilson with cold water and regular showers, combined with the lack of air conditioning and the failure to regularly check his health, “caused tremendous suffering and death”.

According to the lawsuit, her situation was the result of “deliberate indifference” and “intentional discrimination” by Texas officials.

The new wrongful death lawsuit comes as Texas is already awaiting the outcome of a separate lawsuit federal court action Due to heat crisis in Austin. An alliance of advocacy groups is calling on a federal judge in the western district of Texas to order the state to implement air conditioning in all prisons for the next three years.

A decision in this case is expected within months.

The legal crisis is coming to a head as the searing summer heat once again hits Texas prisons. More than 85,000 of the state’s 141,000 inmates are held in unair-conditioned cells, where internal temperatures regularly exceed 115F (46C) during the summer months.

A high of 149F was recorded. In such extreme cases, individual prisoners can suffer physical and mental breakdowns, and those who are particularly vulnerable due to comorbidities can suffer fatal heat strokes.

Desperate prisoners have been known to pour dirty toilet water on the concrete floors of their cells and lie in it to cool off.

TDCJ acknowledged that three heat-related deaths occurred in prisons in 2023, but has denied any such deaths have occurred since then. Patrick Womack, 50, one of the three dead inmates, was found unresponsive in his cell in August 2023 with a body temperature of 106.9F.

The temperature record inside the prison at the Coffield unit recorded 107F the day before Wilson died. The hot weather was intense again in Coffield this summer.

In Anderson County, where the prison is located, temperatures of 100F or higher were recorded on 17 of the 30 days in June. Temperatures outside are known to rise further inside the prison, especially at night.

Brittany Robertson, an outside attorney for hundreds of Texas inmates, said she has received distress signals from many people complaining about cold water shortages in recent days.

“Cold showers are still at normal shower temperatures, which does nothing to lower body temperature,” Robertson said. “Conditions are getting worse due to power and water outages.”

A recent communication from James, one of the inmates in the Coffield unit, sounded the alarm with wording similar to the urgent plea Robertson received from Wilson shortly before he died. James wrote: “I was stranded for 20 hours without running water or a toilet. Wow. No one crossed the line or even came to fix the problem during the last night.”

At the time of his death, Wilson was locked in solitary confinement, known as restricted housing in Texas, for 23 hours a day. He was known to have comorbidities, including a weight that made him officially obese, and thus required intensive health checks during hot weather.

However, the night before he died, the officer responsible for the last health check of the day was unable to complete this check. The officer later said the unit was struggling due to understaffing and was “heat exhausted.”

Jason Wilson’s father, Ronnie Wilson, who filed the wrongful death lawsuit, told the Guardian he had no idea his son had endured such extreme pain until his death. When he began investigating conditions at Coffield, Ronnie was told that the institution was known to staff as the “glass house” because of the way the sun beat down on it.

Texas faces possible criminal charges in wrongful death case. Wilson said the issue was not money, he wanted justice for his son and the necessary changes to be made by the state.

“Too many people are dying. My son was punished for his wrongdoing, but not the death penalty. He was not expected to suffer as if he were being slowly executed.”

The Guardian approached TDCJ for a response to the charges against him, but the agency declined to comment because the case is ongoing.

The disaster in Texas prisons is predicted to become increasingly intense as temperatures rise due to the climate crisis. Climatologists say Texas likely to warm up There will be an additional 5.1F (2.8C) increase by 2050.

The cost of bringing air conditioning to all prisons in Texas is estimated at $1.3 billion. This is within the reach of the state; currently a rainy day backdrop This is limited to 27 billion dollars.

Officially known as the economic stabilization fund, parliament will need to hold a two-thirds vote to get it on the ballot. But Erica Grossman, an attorney who served as counsel in both the wrongful death lawsuit and the federal trial in Austin, said prison officials continue to deny the extent of the problem.

“You won’t get the funding unless you explain to the legislature why you need it and clearly communicate the severity of the crisis,” he said.

Grossman said the state has tolerated unconstitutional, brutal conditions in its cells for years. “Instead of taking responsibility, he continues to tolerate it and cover it up. Inmates in solitary confinement like Jason Wilson are literally cooked to death.”