Extreme heat in Texas prisons without AC is unconstitutional, judge says
Texas inmate Bernhardt Tiede was being held in a cell without air conditioning when he suffered a stroke in the summer of 2023. Temperatures there regularly exceeded 110 degrees Fahrenheit, according to court documents.
After his stroke, the 65-year-old was transferred to an air-conditioned cell for eight days before returning to his old cell, the documents say.
On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman in the Western District of Texas ruled that housing inmates without air conditioning in Texas heat is 'plainly unconstitutional' — siding with Tiede and four prisoners' rights advocates who had sued Bryan Collier, executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
'Despite a significant risk of harm faced by inmates in unairconditioned TDCJ prisons, Collier has implemented mitigation measures he knows are inadequate — and which the Court finds are scientifically inadequate — to reduce the substantial risks of serious harm posed by extreme heat,' Pitman wrote in his order.
But Pitman stopped short of ordering the TDCJ to immediately install air conditioners, saying the plaintiffs will need to continue their trial.
TDCJ spokeswoman Amanda Hernandez welcomed the ruling, saying in a statement Thursday that the agency is 'committed to the safety of the inmate population and our staff.'
Heat is the leading cause of weather-driven death in the United States. Across Texas, which houses the country's largest population of prisoners, temperatures can soar above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, creating significant health risks. About 85,000 Texas inmates live in units that lack air conditioning in most living spaces, and at least 41 prisoners died in uncooled prisons during a 2023 Texas heat wave, according to the Texas Tribune.
Tiede initially filed a lawsuit against Collier, the TDCJ, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his office in August 2023, seeking to be moved to an air-conditioned cell. After a magistrate judge granted the request, four prison rights groups — the Texas Prisons Community Advocates, Build Up Inc., Texas Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants and the Coalition of Texans with Disabilities — joined the lawsuit on behalf of all TDCJ inmates.
On Aug. 6, 2023, Texas inmate John Castillo was found unresponsive in his sweltering, 94-degree prison cell at the Alfred D. Hughes Unit in Gatesville, according to court documents. Castillo had visited a nearby water cooler 23 times before collapsing in his cell, which lacked air conditioning.
Castillo was rushed to the prison's medical unit, where a nurse said he was 'hot to the touch,' according to the documents. He was pronounced dead at 11:33 p.m. with a core body temperature of 107.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
Patrick Womack, 50, whose cell at the H.H. Coffield Unitin Tennessee Colony also didn't have air conditioning, was pronounced dead on Aug. 21, 2023, hours after he was denied a cooldown shower, according to court documents. Officers found Womack unresponsive, lying facedown on his stomach, with a core body temperature of 106.9 degrees Fahrenheit.
In the weeks before he died on July 5, Texas inmate Jason Wilson sent several emails to Brittany Robertson, director of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, expressing concern that the temperatures in his unit were extremely high and that there were not enough prison staff to pass out water, the court documents say.
Extreme heat poses several health risks, including heat exhaustion, heat rash, dehydration, heat cramps and heat stroke. Climate change increases the frequency and likelihood of extreme temperatures and heat waves, exacerbating the risks.
'If you don't have air conditioning, you're very limited in ways in which it's possible to adapt and maintain a healthy inmate population in the face of rising temperatures,' said John Nielsen-Gammon, the Texas state climatologist and a professor at Texas A&M University.
In his ruling Thursday, Pitman declined to order Texas to immediately start installing air conditioners, saying it could cost billions of dollars and take years to complete.
'Ordering temporary air conditioning now would have the effect of diverting significant limited resources for a process that would neither be adaptable to a permanent solution nor likely even be complete before the Court's preliminary (i.e. temporary) injunction would expire,' Pitman wrote.
In TDCJ's statement to The Washington Post, Hernandez said the agency has installed air conditioning units, identified inmates who are heat-sensitive and implemented heat mitigation measures, such as providing respite areas, cooling towels and ice cups.
But Amite Dominick, founder of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, called the measures insufficient. Seventy percent of Texas prisons in Texas still don't have air conditioning and more than 90,000 inmates will be without air conditioning this summer, she said. During periods of extreme heat, Dominick said inmates will typically stick their noses under the cracks of their cells or break windows to get air.
'You're encased in metal, concrete, brick, with limited ventilation,' Dominick said. 'The best thing I can liken this to is to experience a [high heat] of triple digits and lock yourself in your closet and turn off your air conditioning.'
A November 2022 study found higher death rates among people in prisons without air conditioning, compared to those with air conditioning. A one-degree increase above 85 degrees Fahrenheit elevates the daily risk of dying by 0.7 percent, the study found. Between 2001 and 2019, the study says, there was an average of 14 heat-related deaths per year in Texas prisons without air conditioning.
'Aging prison buildings and prisons that lack ventilation may hold on to heat and not be able to cool down even when the temperatures outside drop,' Julie Skarha, one of the study's authors, said in an email.
Pitman also noted in his ruling that Texas lawmakers have introduced bills that would set temperature standards and require air conditioning units to be installed in all TDCJ facilities. The state legislature is in session until June 2.
According to court documents, Collier has said that he 'absolutely' wants to install air conditioning in all TDCJ facilities but that the state legislature hasn't appropriated the necessary funds.
Dominick, the Texas Prisons Community Advocates founder, said she's concerned that the rate at which TDCJ prisons are filling is outpacing the rate at which the state agency is installing air conditioning units.
'It's just moving too slow,' she said. 'And it's moving too slow because of the political will.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Migrants and ICE officers contend with heat, smog and illness after detoured South Sudan flight
WASHINGTON (AP) — Migrants placed on a deportation flight originally bound for South Sudan are now being held in a converted shipping container on a U.S. naval base in Djibouti, where the men and their guards are contending with baking hot temperatures, smoke from nearby burn pits and the looming threat of rocket attacks, the Trump administration said. Officials outlined grim conditions in court documents filed Thursday before a federal judge overseeing a lawsuit challenging Immigration and Customs Enforcement efforts to swiftly remove migrants to countries they didn't come from. Authorities landed the flight at the base in Djibouti, about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) from South Sudan, more than two weeks ago after U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy in Boston found the Trump administration had violated his order by swiftly sending eight migrants from countries including Cuba and Vietnam to the east African nation. The judge said that men from other countries must have a real chance to raise fears about dangers they could face in South Sudan. The men's lawyers, though, have still not been able to talk to them, said Robyn Barnard, senior director of refugee advocacy at Human Rights First, whose stated mission is to ensure the United States is a global leader on human rights. Barnard spoke Friday at a hearing of Democratic members of Congress and said some family members of the men had been able to talk to them Thursday. The migrants have been previously convicted of serious crimes in the U.S., and President Donald Trump's administration has said that it was unable to return them quickly to their home countries. The Justice Department has also appealed to the Supreme Court to immediately intervene and allow swift deportations to third countries to resume. The case comes amid a sweeping immigration crackdown by the Republican administration, which has pledged to deport millions of people who are living in the United States illegally. The legal fight became another flashpoint as the administration rails against judges whose rulings have slowed the president's policies. The Trump administration said the converted conference room in the shipping container is the only viable place to house the men on the base in Djibouti, where outdoor daily temperatures rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 degrees Celsius), according to the declaration from an ICE official. Nearby burn pits are used to dispose of trash and human waste, and the smog cloud makes it hard to breathe, sickening both ICE officers guarding the men and the detainees, the documents state. They don't have access to all the medication they need to protect against infection, and the ICE officers were unable to complete anti-malarial treatment before landing, an ICE official said. 'It is unknown how long the medical supply will last,' Mellissa B. Harper, acting executive deputy associate director of enforcement and removal operations, said in the declaration. The group also lacks protective gear in case of a rocket attack from terrorist groups in Yemen, a risk outlined by the Department of Defense, the documents state. ___ Associated Press writer Rebecca Santana contributed to this story.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Yahoo
TDCJ Executive Director announces retirement
(FOX 44) – Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) Executive Director Bryan Collier has announced his retirement, effective August 31. TDCJ says this comes following a long career of public service. Collier assumed the role of Executive Director on August 1, 2016. In addition to guiding the agency through Hurricane Harvey and COVID-19, TDCJ says Collier's leadership was instrumental in decreasing the recidivism rate to one of the lowest in the country, coordination with State's leadership to secure significant pay raises for correctional staff and parole officers, and investing in the rehabilitation and reentry of those incarcerated. Under Collier's leadership, the agency embraced innovation, broke ground on a new state-of-the-art training facility, issued tablets to more than 130,000 inmates, and implemented transformative programs such as the Field Minister and Life Coach approaches to peer support, and the STRIVE inmate self-improvement curriculum. TDCJ says Collier has held a wide variety of positions during his 40 years of service to the agency. These include clerk, correctional officer, parole officer, section director, parole division director, deputy executive director, and executive director. Collier has a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminology and Corrections from Sam Houston State University. He is a member of the American Correctional Association (ACA), serving on the Board of Governors, Vice President, and as Vice-Chair of the Performance-Based Standards Committee. TDCJ says Collier has received numerous awards – including ACA's Best in the Business Award, Correctional Leaders Association (CLA) Edward R. Cass Correctional Achievement Award, CLA Michael Francke Career Achievement Award, and Dr. George J. Beto Hall of Honor Award. The Executive Director is appointed by the nine-member Texas Board of Criminal Justice. Chairman Nichols says the TDCJ the board has started the process of appointing a new executive director. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
a day ago
ICE agents and migrants they're holding in Djibouti are at risk of rocket attacks, malaria: Official
A group of ICE agents and the migrants they're holding in the African country of Djibouti following an order by a U.S. federal judge are at grave risk, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official said in a sworn court declaration filed on Thursday. The eight migrants, who have been convicted of violent crimes, were put on a plane in Texas for deportation to the East African country of South Sudan as part of the Trump administration's effort to deport criminally convicted noncitizens to countries other than their own. After U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy blocked the administration's attempt to deport the group to South Sudan without giving them sufficient chance to contest their removal, the group disembarked in Djibouti, where they are currently on a military base. ICE officers had to "interrupt the flight and disembark in Djibouti without being on anti-malaria medication," ICE official Melissa Harper said in a sworn declaration dated Wednesday. Harper said the migrants and ICE officers were not able to start taking antimalarials until after their arrival, and are also at risk of rocket attacks from terrorist groups, as well as extreme heat conditions. Within 72 hours of landing in Djibouti, the officers and detainees began to feel ill, Harper said, adding that "it is unknown" how long medical supplies will last. The migrants are part of an emergency petition the Trump administration filed with the Supreme Court asking it to lift what the administration called "onerous" due process procedures imposed by Judge Murphy. The detainees, according to Harper, are currently being held in a conference room "in a converted Conex shipping container." "The conference room in which the aliens are housed is not equipped nor suitable for detention of any length, let alone for the detention of high-risk individuals," Harper said. "Notably, the room has none of the security apparatus necessary for the detention of criminal aliens. If an altercation were to occur, there is no other location on site available to separate the aliens, which further compromises the officers' safety." Because Djibouti uses burn pits as a way to dispose of trash and human waste, Harper said the smog clouds created by the pits are "making it difficult to breathe and requiring medical treatment for the officers." "Due to the temperature in Djibouti being over 100 degrees Fahrenheit during the day and in the 90s at night with usually no breeze, the smoke from the burn pits lingers," Harper said. The ICE official concluded her sworn testimony by saying that the ICE officers were warned by Department of Defense officials of "imminent danger of rocket attacks from terrorist groups in Yemen." "The ICE officers lack body armor or other gear that would be appropriate in the case of an attack," she said. On Wednesday, immigrant advocates and attorneys said in a letter to the Supreme Court that "If the alleged harms to the United States' interests from class members' continuing presence in Djibouti are as significant as Defendants claim, they retain the authority to return the individuals to the United States."
