Extreme heat, lack of air conditioning lead to deaths in Texas’ prisons: Advocacy groups

AUSTIN, Texas: Inmates and support groups are turning up the heat on an issue they say is killing people behind prison bars in Texas.

With no air conditioning in many cells amid a summer of heatwaves, advocates say that prisoners are falling sick and dying from the high temperatures.

The southern state in the United States has been baking under a blistering stretch of intensely hot days, breaking its daily heat records in August in several cities, including Austin, Houston, Dallas and Fort Worth.

Heat alerts were issued across parts of the state and emergency services have seen a surge in heat-related illnesses.

EXTREME TEMPERATURES IN PRISONS

Former inmate Marci Marie Simmons, who works with Lioness Justice Impacted Women's Alliance, a non-profit group which advocates for better conditions for those in jail, said that aside from prisoners, correctional facilities’ officers are also impacted by the heat.

“We are watching our friends have heat seizures. We are watching officers pass out and we want to know what the temperature is,” said Ms Simmons, the organisation’s community outreach coordinator.

“So I climbed up on this big industrial fan that they have (in a prison) – that just kind of blows around hot air at this time of year – I climbed up and rolled an electrical tape back … and that thermometer read 136 degrees Fahrenheit (58 degrees Celsius).”

That temperature is well into a range that can cause heat stroke and death, even for a healthy person.

LACK OF ACCESS TO COOLING SYSTEMS

Officials from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice said they are adding cooling systems to some cells, which will allow about 42,000 inmates some respite from the heat by the end of this year.

However, this still leaves around 100,000 prisoners in the state without proper access to cooler temperatures.

Former inmates said measures taken so far have not been effective, and many of those serving their time have had to sleep on the floor as their metal bunks are often too hot to even touch.

Once a person is convicted of a crime in Texas, they will either do time at a short-term jail, where the law states the temperature cannot rise above 29 degrees Celsius, or be sent for a longer sentence at a bigger prison, where there is no such law protecting them from extreme heat.

Previous attempts to pass a Bill mandating temperature control in prisons, and seeking US$545 million in funding to start phasing in air conditioning, have failed.

According to current inmates, there are reports of more than 50 people dying from heat-related illnesses in prisons in Texas this summer.

Prison authorities, however, have denied this, saying no one has died from the heat since 2012.

NOT JUST A TEXAS PROBLEM

Criminal justice advocate Robert Tyrone Lilly said he spoke to a mother who lost her son under these circumstances.

“He went to do his time. He was supposed to come home, not die while he waited. He didn't receive a death sentence,” said Mr Lilly, a participatory defence organiser at civil rights group Grassroots Leadership.

“In these current conditions, it is going to be a death sentence for many who are ill, weak and vulnerable.”

Excessive heat and a lack of air conditioning are not just a Texas problem.

Many other US states, including Alabama and Louisiana, are suffering from heatwaves. They, too, do not have air conditioning in prisons.

Studies have shown that nationwide, a 5 degrees Celsius temperature rise is linked to a 5.2 per cent increase in mortality among incarcerated people.