As the summer comes to a close, prisoners across the state of Texas are breathing a sigh of relief. They finally get a reprieve from the extreme heat they have had to live with, day and night, for the past few months at 75 state-run prisons operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) that lack air-conditioning in cellblocks.
Last summer, aging, heat-sensitive prisoners at the Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota, Texas, scored an unprecedented victory after a district judge ruled that forcing them to endure temperatures that regularly soar beyond 100 degrees constitutes cruel and unusual punishment.
In their litigation, the prisoners cited 23 heat-related deaths that have occurred at department-run prisons since 1998 — 11 of those deaths occurring during a notorious heat wave in the summer of 2011. As Truthout has previously reported, staffers within the department’s Health Services Division tracked more than 200 heat-related illnesses in 2010 and 2011 across scores of units, but still neglected to introduce climate controls despite the widespread nature of the problem.
TDCJ has come under intensifying pressure since Judge Keith Ellison’s ruling, and this year, the department announced new procedures focused on preventing heat-related deaths and illnesses, including updated heat protocols and a new incident command system officials claim will ensure compliance. The new system is triggered by extreme heat warnings issued by the National Weather Service, according to a department spokesperson. Meanwhile, after shuffling more than 1,000 prisoners to air-conditioned jails and prisons, TDCJ installed temporary air-conditioning at Wallace Pack this year as they work to permanently air-condition the unit, pending legislative approval.
The department’s new policies build on its pre-existing heat mitigation measures, which were codified in 2016. The measures include providing prisoners…