The night before his death in prisonPatrick Womack, 50, was denied a cold water bath to appease the heat. With thermal sensations that exceed 45ºC, the Texas prisons They are “brick kilns” in summer.
During his last day of life, John Castillo went to get ice water 23 times. He was found unconscious and later died in the medical unit with a temperature body temperature over 41ºC, similar to that registered by Patrick after being found half-naked in his cell without being able to be revived. John was epileptic and Patrick was on medication for depression.
In the case of Elizabeth Hagerty, 37, days before her death she warned of the risk of heat in your health due to his obesity and diabetes and sought medical attention for a rash that invaded his body. The three cases are from 2023.
Every year, between June and October, with the high temperatures In the southern United States, the concern of the family members of the arrested in Texas: Will they survive? Activists They have gone to court to ask that the legal limits of between 18ºC and 29ºC be respected inside the cells.
This means installing aire conditioned which the majority of prisons managed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) do not have or partially own. In all its prisons there are a total of 45,689 air-conditioned beds for a population of 134,000.
at least three deaths
Amite Dominick, president of the Community Defenders organization in the Texas Prisons (TPCA) says that a favorable court decision would set a precedent for other states that are also going through this problem. “We see that now, with climate change, this is impacting prisons throughout the country,” he details.
Las deaths Elizabeth, Patrick and John are part of the demand against the TDCJ.
In the court hearing at the beginning of August, the director of the institution, Bryan Collier, admitted, after being questioned by a lawyer for the plaintiffs, that in these three deaths he heat It could have influenced, in addition to the diseases that those affected already suffered.
He recalled that it is up to the Texas Parliament to approve the budget for him aire conditioned. Meanwhile there are fans, ice water, cold baths, hydration and temporary transfers to heated common areas – such as the library or the medical center – to alleviate the pain. heat.
A privilege?
It’s not enough. “In Texas, every summerwe have high temperatureshigh humidity and we lose lives, because people are cooking inside this brick oven,” says Dominick from outside the prison Wynne, in Huntsville, which is home to 2,600 arrested sin aire conditioned.
“During my confinement I flushed the toilet water several times, which came out cooler than the tap water, to wet my body“says Marci Marie Simmons, 45, who was held in the Murray Unit for 10 years for accounting crimes.
“Some women made the toilet collapse so that the water would fall to the floor, wet the concrete and they would have a cool surface to rest on (…) I even saw female construction workers prison get sick from highs temperatures“adds Simmons, spokesperson for the Alliance of Women Impacted by Justice.
From her home in Weatherford, Texas, Simmons uses social media to talk about her life in prison. “Locking people up in these high temperatures It is a cruel punishment (…) We are not asking for a privilege but for something human,” he considers.
Dominick explains that during the summer the fights in prison They are more common because the heat irritates the spirits. “It is a question of survival every summer. 95% of these arrested must return home (…) There can be no rehabilitation when dealing with these temperatures“Some are not even guilty, he specifies.
Advances
Dominick assures that year after year they try to get the Texas Parliament to address the issue.
“They are sexual aggressors, rapists, murderers. And we are going to pay for their aire conditioned when I can’t provide aire conditioned to citizens who work hard and pay taxes?”, questioned in 2012 the then state senator in charge of the issue and today the mayor of Houston, John Whitmire, quoted by The New York Times.
TDCJ’s Collier said at the hearing that positions have changed. Since 2017, your institution has asked the parliament state the budget and finally last year they received part of the requested money, with which they are currently building 1,760 additional air-conditioned beds.
Meanwhile, the illness continues. “It was horrible. At some moments I felt like I was fainting,” says Samuel Urbina, 59, minutes after leaving a prison in Hunstville, where he was held for drug offenses. “I won’t come back,” he said, before hugging his daughter who went to pick him up.
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