![]() Robert Herrera, warden at the Pack Unit since 2010, told the judge that he’d personally spoken with hundreds of inmates about drinking the water, taking cold showers and going to respite areas if they’re hot. A permanent fix would cost between $450,000 and $22 million, plus yearly operating costs.Ĭourt testimony revealed that the TDCJ’s budget is $3.3 billion, including profits from the agency’s commissary of $30 million. TDCJ administrators testified that the prisons make every reasonable effort to protect inmates during heat waves, offering an unlimited supply of ice water, cold showers and respite areas.īut they told the judge that given their budgetary constraints, air-conditioning the entire facility is not economically feasible.īased on court documents and testimony during the hearings, the temporary cooling systems the judge is considering range from $100,000 to just over $1 million. ![]() ![]() The team from Edwards Law in Austin and the Texas Civil Rights Project argued that standards of human decency dictate that inmates - especially those who take medicines that affect their bodies’ ability to fight heat, and those with diabetes, hypertension and other conditions that make them sensitive to heat - should be allowed to live in temperatures below 88 degrees. Lawyers for the six inmates who sued say the hearing marked the first time a group of inmates collectively testified about their exposure to heat and what it’s like to live day to day in un-air-conditioned prison housing units.Īccording to Jeff Edwards, one of the team of lawyers who argued the case for the inmates, the case boils down to two questions: Do the Pack Unit inmates face a substantial risk of harm from extreme heat, and is Texas violating the Constitution by exposing them to “cruel and unusual punishment”?
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