Texas Inmates Sue Over Lack of Air Conditioning
NAVASOTA, Texas—Claiming that even the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is air conditioned, prisoners in Texas have filed a federal lawsuit over high temperatures in state prisons that they say have killed at least 12 prisoners in the last three years. The suit, filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project and the University of Texas School of Law Civil Rights clinic on behalf of the prisoners, isn’t seeking monetary damages. However, it seeks to have prison facilities cooled to 88°F (31°C). The lawsuit, broadly concerned about the lack of air conditioning across state facilities, centers on a facility known as the Wallace Pack Unit. Located 70 miles (113 km) northwest of Houston, the facility houses about 1,400 men. It has no air conditioning, and the windows that do open provide little relief, the suit claims, leading to indoor temperatures that often exceed outdoor temperatures. The suit cites internal data from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice that found over the past three years that indoor temperatures have exceeded 100°F (38°C).
