The heat has literally baked prisoners to death, the report said, and is contributing to significant staff shortages while costing taxpayers millions of dollars in wrongful death and civil rights lawsuits.
Steven Puetzer/Getty ImagesThe state of Texas is proposing to spend $545 million to install air conditioning units in prisons across the state, which have been previously reported as extreme conditions for inmates and prison employees.
Near 70% of prisons are not air-conditioned in Texas. Inmates incarcerated within the Texas Department of Criminal Justice system regularly live within 110-degree temperatures during the summer months, with a temperature of 149 recorded in one prison unit, according to a report from the Texas A&M University Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center.
The heat has literally baked prisoners to death, the report said, and is contributing to significant staff shortages while costing taxpayers millions of dollars in wrongful death and civil rights lawsuits.
Democrat Rep. Terry Canales introduced the bill and told the Texas Tribune, "It's unfortunate that this battle is this difficult," and added, "The prison conditions throughout the state are inhumane."
While human rights advocates celebrate the small win for the House budgeting the allocated funds for cooler prisons, the reality of it passing the Senate is the next hurdle.
The Senate bill would require prisons be kept between 65 and 85 degrees, which is already the law for local jails. The bill has yet to have a hearing the report said — adding that an identical bill in the Republican-led House was voted out of committee unanimously.