Robert Allen Webb, a 50-year-old developmentally disabled man who suffered from a medical condition that made him susceptible to heatstroke, was supposed to be serving a short sentence in a Texas prison for drunken driving.
But in August 2011, as Texas baked in one of its worst heat waves ever, it became a death sentence inside an East Texas prison.
On Thursday, two wrongful-death lawsuits were filed in a Galveston federal court alleging that Webb and 12 other Texas convicts have died since 2007 — 10 alone in a six-week period of July and August 2011 — in un-air-conditioned prisons because of negligence of Texas prison officials.
In some prisons, lawyers said, indoor summer temperatures routinely reach 110 degrees. In one prison near Dallas, the temperature reportedly topped 149, lawyers in the case said.
Texas operates the nation’s largest prison system, with 111 lockups. But unlike other states that have air-conditioned prisons in recent years to curb health questions and lawsuits, most Texas prisons have air conditioning only in administrative and some treatment areas — not in the cell blocks.See also coverage from the Texas Tribune. Last year the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for prisoners to sue in federal court over heat-related Eighth Amendment claims. One of the federal appellate judges likened conditions to sitting in an oven. Today, the weather is on the cool side for June, but things will heat up soon. If TCRP has their way, that will be true in the federal courthouse as well as inside Texas prison cells.
See a related column from Bob Ray Sanders at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram promoting the annual fan drive for indigent prisoners run by CURE, the Committee United for Rehabilitation of Errants. Good cause, give if you can.
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64 comments:
The answer is air conditioning. De-incarceration makes more sense, but in Texas they are going to be more willing to spend millions on A/C than to risk letting anyone out of prison early.
Don't do the crime if you can't do the time.
Actually, arguably, it's NOT on the cool side for June. It's been running about 5 degrees above average in Waco area most of this week.
Maybe global warming is making us think of a new normal.
Anon. 9:48,
I always tell offender patients that...that, and "if you don't like it, stay out of prison" but I really think it is a pretty silly thing to say. After 15 years inside the walls I'm still looking for the first prisoner who thought about prison beforehand.
Apparently the Polunsky Unit didn't have any running water for three days or so this week. Inmates were getting three cups a day. In this weather? And I do NOT want to think about what the toilets would have looked like after three days...
Wish I could donate to CURE by the way but the only way they tell you how to is by sending a check. Well, most of Europe considers checks to be something from the 80s. :-P They don't exist anymore in my country. If someone could tell them to get PayPal or something... I am sure there are more foreigners who'd like to donate!
Anonymous said, "Don't commit the crime if you can't do the time." Violating prisoners' 8th amendment right to be free of cruel and unusual punishment is a civil crime. Don't commit the crime unless you're willing to pay the fine, which in this case is going to be millions of dollars for air conditioning, and millions more for the families of those who died. TDCJ doesn't pay the fine, taxpayers do, including you, anonymous.
Hello, Petra de Jong. Texas CURE is presently working on a PayPal link for the Texas CURE website, but in the meantime you can donate to the Fan Project at this link: http://www.gofundme.com/2sizgc
Thanks for caring.
Michael W. Jewell
Executive Director
Texas CURE
What about the CO's? Don't they work inside the population without AC?
They need to get a good union.
If it were really that bad there would be rioting.
On F wing in administrative segregation at Alfred D. Hughes Unit in Gatesville (this is the wing where ad seg prisoners are sent when they get a disciplinary case), the prison officials have covered the electrical sockets in the cells with a metal plate. Prisoners on this wing do not even have the option to use a fan in the hot summer months as they cannot access an electrical plug. If this is done at this unit, I'm sure it is done at other facilities.
Even in prison units in Texas that have air conditioning, the summer temperatures are so intense that the cells are constantly uncomfortably hot. To have no air conditioning and no access to a fan is cruel and unusual punishment in the brutal Texas summer heat.
I've been working in TDCJ for over ten years now and I say let the taxpayers pay for, after all they have plenty of money after not giving us a decent raise. Plus if it's hot for those who decided to break the law with no concern for their victims rights, then it's hot for us. I just think it's funny how people sit at home watching the News, seeing the crimes these inmates commit and scream that something be done with them, then turn around a few years later, after forgetting about their crime, and blame the system for the inmates discomfort...
To Anon 9:48PM and 9:35AM- What empathy! You sanctimonious jerks make me sick. I'll bet you even call yourselves Christians!
I'm sure you've never been to a Texas prison in the summertime. You're probably way too self righteous to visit somebody there. Not only do I have a grandson who works there but I've visited a south Texas prison when there was no AC in the visitors center, much less anywhere else. At least I could leave, the person I visited and all the guards, including my grandson, have to stay there and endure that heat.
And no, they don't riot. If the prisoners rioted, they would be in for things way worse than that incredible heat, and still be stuck in the heat.
And if the guards tried to do something about it, at the very least they would lose their jobs and then people like you would be bitching about them being lazy and on unemployment.
Since ya'll know all the answers, what's your solution?
Mine would be to take better care of our kids so they aren't tempted to do stuff to get them incarcerated in the first place. But Texas leads the nation in unwanted pregnancies and uneducated kids because they don't want to spend the money to hire qualified teachers, the kind that make them excited to learn instead of being bored with the same old crap that is useless to them in the real world.
everyone has made a mistake or 2 in there life,get down on the hard drugs most people do there crims to get money to do drugs,they put these people in prison and if they can do all ther time without getting in trouble and get out,they cant find a job because texas want hire convicted felons. it is just a visious circle, and to all you big tx.A-HOLES out ther your time coming you will be in front of the big judge one day then what thers no a.c. in hell!!
Anon TDCJ staff 10.04 ~ some of us want better conditions for ALL who spend time in TDCJ facilities. Some of us don't see it with an "us and them" mentality.
There are plenty of ways that Texas could improve the overall situation to reduce the TDCJ intake, increase the professional status of TDCJ staff (and thus justify an increase in pay) and improve the rehabilitation, training and resettlement of those leaving TDCJ. Until the state decides it wants fewer inmates, you're stuck with the status quo. Giving juveniles life sentences would indicate that Texas has no intention of reducing the TDCJ population any time in the next generation.
THE DEGREE OF A CIVILIZATION IN A SOCIETY CAN BE JUDGED BY ENTERING IT'S PRISONS
Our troops made a decision to serve our country and to sometimes die in worst places then prison. Inmates made a decision to break the law, knowing full well what the end results could be, yet you sit at home and cry about some idiot suffering a few months of heat, I know some sailors that work in the engine room of ships where the temp is over 110° and their down there for up to 12 hours a day for six months...also what about those Texans that can't afford AC's, why not do something for them first...
Thanks, Michael, I will go ahead and make a donation!
Yes Anonymous some of them made the decision to break a law. Some didn't. Are you going to tell me you never broke a law, if you say you have not, you just lied. And by the way when did God make you the judge?
Anon 2.00 ~ same old comments every time this is raised.
Service personel have access to water whenever they need it and if they get sick they have access to good medical care.
Plenty of service personel also end up in prison, so lets not paint them all as saints just yet, OK?
And yes, everyone should have access to good quality housing including AC (and heating in states where it gets very cold in winter), as well as a good level of healthcare, good education for their kids without having to pay privately for it, and support in their old age if their families are unable to provide it. But in Texas, the majority of people appear to favour "personal responsibility" above social responsibility, and do not want to pay any tax, let alone taxes that might be spent on those less well off than themselves. By making these same arguments each year, you simply highlight how poorly Texas values any citizen who is not born into privilege or is unable to accumulate wealth.
So if the state decided to install an AC unit in every home and public building in Texas that does not have one, would you be OK with the associated tax rise that would be necessary to cover it?
They should turn off the A/C in the courtroom during the proceedings. Most crooks are legal anyway. (We have a legal system, not a justice system)
TDCJ has units that are over a 100 years old,the electrical wiring will not carry the pull for electricity for fans; therefore, many of the units have closets full of fans but cannot be used.The Concerned Citizens need to insist that TDCJ close the old units or completely rewire them,plus the old iron pipes are rustied out and put out brown water with rust in it that the Inmates have to drink not to mention it being hot in the summer time.If you send fans without finding out if the Inmates gets them or not they just go into a storage closet.The issue is A/C the units.In the West Texas area it gets and stays for weeks at time 115 to 125 degrees in the cells.One thing that a former Warden did was make sure each day-twice a day-that ice was delivered to the inmates which we say HATS off to the one that cared.That is what is supposed to happen in all unit but doesn't, the units did try by installing coolers on the wall but the guards would never fill them up so the Inmates ripped them off the wall.What is wrong with having Ice Machines, the Federal Prisons have Ice Machine for the Inmates, that would be the cheapest way to send some coolness.Oh by the way,the guards have A/C pods to stay in and most of them lay down on the floor sleeping under the AC during work hours when it is gets so "HOT",they hang out the "Do Not Distrub" sign so do not have an emergency during this time of the day.
Yes i saw it . My freind is 72 has one lung army vet and spent 17 yrs in prison for a crime he did nt commit now he got 15 more years for a probatiom violation : iknow it was personal..
INMATES are human being, treat them as such, it is called rehabilitation not de-habilitation, the NONE Violent Inmates need to be sent home so they can go to work, support their families getting them off the welfare system, contribute to their communites,currently the system received Humans in and then releases Animals out, it is called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder creates many Inmates to be unable to function when they are released due to the constant mouthing of guards trashing them verbally, emotionally not to mention the physical abuse...same as a combat zone which use to be referred to as shell-shock,only the oldies will remember that one
The arguments for/against AC miss the entire point! ALL human beings should be treated as human beings, not animals. That’s not debatable in any civilized society I’m aware of on this planet. There are other much larger issues:
One: Has anyone done the research into increasing prison populations and economic affluence? A hundred years ago, when slavery was legally ended, prison populations began to grow. They leveled and remained essentially level for a period of time. Then, came the 1960’s when women and other “minorities” forced the white males in political power to recognize that ALL citizens were EQUAL and entitled to the same rights. The prison population has steadily grown since then. The inference seems to be as society has fewer folks to do FREE labor, the prison populations increase.
I assume those who comment here know that in TDCJ/Texas inmates are REQUIRED to work without pay. They cannot earn enough to even buy a fan! If they have one, the inmate has a family who is providing funds OR they have learned to hustle behind the rules to get what they need (a new way to break the rules). There are no other options available.
Second: There are THOUSANDS in Texas’ prisons who did NOT commit the crime, but, due to Texas’ fundamental flawed INjustice system and district attorneys whose names need not be cited on this website, they will do the time. Those few who have been exonerated based on DNA are only a tiny portion of the incarcerated innocent in Texas. Most cases don’t have DNA evidence, so exoneration will not help them.
Finally, I offer this analogy: Stray dog. Steals my steak right off my grill! So, said dog is put into a cage (if not killed). That dog will spend years in that cage. Option 1 is to poke a stick (such as provide poor food, extreme heat/cold, boredom, forced labor) at that dog year after year so he will “learn his lesson”. But, the day arrives (we’ll assume there’s no parole here) when you MUST open the cage. The first thing the dog does is seriously bite your hand . . . he only stole before, now he’s pissed off, angry, and violent. Option 2 is to treat the dog with respect, provide sufficient food and medical care when necessary, and teach the dog a trade (seeing eye, seizure detection, companion to a PTSD veteran . . . lot of trades exist for dogs). When the day arrives that the cage door is opened, the dog walks out having learned his lesson and with his tail in the air, a trade he can perform to earn his keep; he’s a better dog then when he entered the cage. TDCJ/Texas believes Option 1 . . . and then wonders why recidivism and costs are so high. They must be uncaring, slow learners, or just plain mean to not be able to figure it out.
When activists hit the bricks as we did in the 1960’s, those in power will be forced to recognize their inhumanity and, then, and only then, will they begin to relinquish some of their power. It will have become in THEIR best interests to do so . . . and they’
anon 6/15/2013 10:04:00 AM
Perhaps some other career path would benefit you. We tax serfs pay your salary and since your taxes flow from your salary we are paying those too. You, sir or madam, are in effect a parasite in my pocket.
Too bad you're hot under the collar.
Sorry about the TWO long posts. It's been awhile since I posted.
Delete the first one as a "draft". the second one is a final draft.
My offender friend at Murray Unit tells me Prison Staff are not showing up for work because of the Heat inside the unit.
Don't forget that service personnel are in top shape. An elderly 72 year old veteran, who suffers from PTSD, and is serving 20 years for DWI due to an alcohol problem can not be fit for the same conditions as our younger soldiers. TDCJ has become the new MHMR treatment center for the psychiatric clients in Texas. Instead of helping our mentally disabled, we now just send them to prison. Once in prison they are placed on medications that raise their body temperature and many of the heat deaths in TDCJ are related to medications. Remember the agency knows this too.
8th amendment violations are occurring every day in TDCJ with the placement of the mentally ill and elderly in 120 degree conditions. Don't forget about their unpaid staff too.
Brad Livingston, the governor, and the entire board of Criminal justice need to be placed in a prison without air conditioning for violating the 8th amendment regarding the cruel treatment of our mentally disabled. Maybe with Brad's $73,000 raise, he can collect retirement and pay one of the many gangs that run TDCJ for protection. Remember heat is not the only problem in TDCJ, security is too, due to understaffing and high staff turnover, prison gangs run our Texas prisons. Texas leads the nation in prison rape.
I totally agree with the statement dated 6/17/2013 at 09:00AM.
God will change things if the Gov. or Brad Livingston will not air-condition those units.
The Hughes unit in Gatesville Ad Seg cells do have A/C, the runs, day room, hallways do not though so while the c/o's go around taking inmates out one at a time to put them in the shower or day room/rec yard it gets really hot on the runs so the c/o start at 0600 on 2 row trying to get the top rows done before it gets to hot. Yes the picket has a/c most of the time. Most of the newer units such as Hughes, Telford, Micheal have a/c in the ad seg for security reasons. F pod in the worst pod, the worst of the worst violent offenders go, not just when they get a case. F pod outlets are covered because if your in F pod you most likely are on property restriction and don't have your fan, radio, hot pot anyway. There is also the problem of inmates starting fires inside their cells with those outlets.
Ad seg consist of A-F pods with 74 cells, 74 inmates per pod all in the same bldg. A being the best, F being the worse
just could not keep my thought to my self yes talking about you anonymous,or maybe call you GOD bet you like that! well no take that back you are an IDIOT!!!!! you are the type who think everyone that goes to prison are bad people well let me tell you people like yourself are the reason a lot of good people go to prison,your day will come...HOT SHOT!!!..no a.c. or ice water in HELL..BIG BOY!
Get them out of the buildings and put them in tents like AZ does. They can catch the breeze. Add dogs to the co stsff yi help manage problems.
These inmates have it made in Texas prisons. 3 hot meals, a bed, church, ice cold water every day during the summer, school, and the best medical in the world. Why should we make it even nicer for these thugs to do their time. Make it rough so they want to get out, and not return. If the officers have to put up with the heat so should all the babies in the system. The thugs can strip down to their boxers in there cell and have a fan cooling them off. Officers can't do that, so shut up about it.
If you can't do the time? Really? Because I was a correctional nurse here in Texas and I did the time and my husband -whom I knew before his incarceration- is doing it as well.
Violation of our 8th amendment rights is absolutely in play as far as sitting in the hell holes our prisons become in the summer time with zero ventilation and having the water randomly turned off for days and being given buckets of hot hose water and told that it's 1st come 1st served.
Working in these conditions was pure hell for me and still is for everyone who continues to do so.
My husband adamantly states that he has no right to complain about the situation because he broke the law and must now pay the consequences for what he did 10 years ago. Nevertheless, when he calls me and asks me to hurry up and tell him what to do to help his friend who's laid out unconscious from heat exhaustion with zero help on the way, and has to watch the people he's allowed himself to come close to die in this heat..
All I can say is..how bout YOU do the time and then get back to me on how you feel afterward?
As far as rioting is concerned, they're all covered in mites and heat rash from head to toe and so tired and mentally worn out from the mites, rashes and no relief from the heat...
If it's really that bad they can't riot. They're too sick and hopeless to move let alone riot.
Anon 10.17 ~ you've obviously had no personal experience of TDCJ. And if the "best medical in the world" consists of issuing aspirin regardless of the symptoms, I'm kinda glad I don't live there.
There are policies in place to deal with the heat in prison. It is nobody's fault some pedophile/sex offender/murderer doesn't take advantage of these policies. I'm sure they weren't worried about the heat when they were molesting somebody's 3 yr old, raping somebody's grandmother, or killing somebody's husband/son. Prisons have been without air cond. for years. DEAL WITH IT. THE VICTIMS ARE.
Anon 2.57 (who could be the same as all the other Anons too shy to even use a screen name) ~ if only prison did only house such inmates. No one in Texas is ever sent to prison for anything non-violent are they. And no one is ever sent to prison due to a mistake in an identity line-up, or where the attorney didn't do their jobs properly, or just for knowing someone who was committing a crime and not walking away fast enough. Because that never happens in Texas, does it.
thank u sunwrench, like i have said all inmates are not bad people, but they are saints out there who think because someone goes to prison that they are not worth any thing , well your day will come what will to tell the big judge " GOD" when he asked you why no compassion for your brothers or sisters, will you tell him they are just low lives not worthy of anybodys time well i no god loves and he is a forgiving god i will pray for you to.!!!
The Marlin N1 unit which opened around 4 yrs ago houses 500 male offenders only min.-med security. The bldg is a former TYC bldg and IS air conditioned! Word on the street is come August they are making it a female unit. I suspect at least half of the females will be medically needy in need of the A/C but the other half will have to be able to climb up on a top bunk. Pretty sure this is due to all the media attn. the heat in Tx prisons has been getting. This unit is in Marlin, Tx which the Hobby unit (female) is there also.
Here's the problem with your "pedophile/sex offender/murderer" logic. Those are the ones who don't suffer like the bank robbers who never laid a finger on anyone's baby, or anyone else. Because the ones who hurt babies and commit rape, are the ones most likely to be.paroled....and receive a favorable vote for said very close to 100% of the first time they're eligible to be voted on. See, in Texas, you can rape a baby and go home in 2 years. But God forbid you touch another person's money. Good luck not dying in the heat before you ever see the light of day again. And who voted for this? You. You did genius. Way to look like a self righteous moron.
Anon 9.26 ~ in the interestes of fairness and accuracy, can you provide evidence that a rapist of a child only received a 4 year sentence in Texas? Because if they were paroled in 2 years at the first time of asking, they must have served 50% of their overall sentenced time.
Can someone please explain why Texas Correctional Officers got only a 5% pay raise when other State Agencies reaped the benefits with larger ones?
One day I drove up to a unit and the top doors had Large Fans blowing air out of the building. Ice was delivered every 30 minutes to each offender. The TDCJ Correctional Officers were going to the infirmary all day and night...But who cares about what type of abuse they endure. If they speak up-THEY ARE FIRED! A 5% pay raise sure tells the world how much they deserve according to the State Legislative Branches-NADA, U STUPIDO FOOLS for being Officers in the first place...right? 99% of Correctional Officers are GOD Fearing Men and Women, have families, worry the same worries all Texans worry, endure horrendous injustices, and have the same fears that all of us have...so why treat them differently? I pray that fair politics returns to TEXAS and not the CUTTING UP OF BOUNDARIES TO GUARANTEE REPUBLICANS REAP RE-ELECTION...isn't this got something to do with VOTER FRAUD...there is nothing fair in it and the Supreme Court needs to hold all of them accountable, SO DO THE TEXAS VOTERS!
All Correctional Officers are GLORIFIED OVERPAID BABY SITTERS in the United States. I agree with TEXAS GOVERNOR PERRY for wanting to fire all his Correctional Officers and bring in non-English speaking Chinese, Mexican, or elsewhere and pay them in their own equivalent currency of their respective country. PERRY IS THE MAN! He Motto-SAVE THE RICH FROM THE POOR!
Also at a recent luncheon, Governor Perry said that he wants to regress minimum wage back to $3.15 an hour and that those lazy Texans can work 80 hours a week to make ends meet cause they have all gotten too fat and lazy. You Go! Ricky! You Go!
They are not putting ice water in the dorms on the Crain Unit. They are putting water straight out of the tap in the dorms in the mornings and it is warm in the morning and boiling hot by the afternoon. I hope and pray the FEDS slams dunk TDCJ and they have to pay millions to put AC on these units and then the smarty's in charge can explain to the tax-payers if TDCJ was run by someone with half a brain, this mess could have been avoided. Priceless!!!
I do not post a lot because most of the comments make me so angry.No person cares about inmates until you have one.My son is in for a non violent offense.His first time ever. I use to think like many of you.Not anymore. You treat people with dignity. Sign everything you can find regarding heat to prtest it.If you are a loved one join MISS. However said they have the best healthcare is a joke.My son almost died from a spider bite.
As of this very moment at the Crain Unit it is around 110 degrees inside the Riverside Unit Dorms. The Inmates had hot tap water delivered to them this morning or should I say an inmate was told to fill an old barrel up with water with an outside hose. By this time the water is a biological hazard. Now the officers on this dorm has a cooler full of ice at their station for cold water. They even make the slaves, I mean inmates go fetch the water for Master, I mean the guards. The guards sit around under a fan with cold water and ice while the inmates get boiling hot water. Yep, I cannot wait until the FEDS slam this unit. This unit is no better than a Concentration Camp.
what can be done ? or who should we reach out to? these texas temp.are extremely HOT any feedback will be appreciated...
maybe more fans and more cold water would be an option...???
I am not sure that anyone who could help will help. At the shift change today at 2pm on the Riverside unit of the Crain Unit the officers had the inmates carry in two bags of ice in each dorm to put in a cooler for officers only. None of the inmates could have any of the ice. A barrel of tap water with NO ICE was bought into this dorm this morning and will sit there all day. So the Crain Unit is not giving ice to the inmates. TDCJ is just lying through their teeth again about giving ice water to the inmates.
I HAVE A SON ALSO IN TDC AND I KNOW THEY DON'T GET ICE, 113* OUTSIDE AND HE SAID IT WAS HOTTER INSIDE....IT'S CRUEL & INHUMANE! SHAME ON YOU TEXAS!!
How's this - if they don't want to give the actual working force i.e. building officers - the air conditioning/ventilation that we need then shut it off for the administrative offices too. By all rights they shouldn't sit in judgment of how the majority of us should just suck it up unless they have to endure the same. Save the state a little more money and then we can give that to Brad.
I HAVE A SON ALSO IN TDC AND I KNOW THEY DON'T GET ICE, 113* OUTSIDE AND HE SAID IT WAS HOTTER INSIDE....IT'S CRUEL & INHUMANE! SHAME ON YOU TEXAS
Poor Baby,, Tell Him Not To Break The Law,,,, Its That Easy!!!
Anon 4:12 by that logic, we could tell the officers to get a better job too. How about putting the prison Wardens in Gatesville in prison for breaking the law. Three of the prisons discussed here are in Gatesville. One unit has two male Sergeants who at least 20 female inmates said raped them but there was no charges and they still walking around flaunting their power over the inmates. Where is your logic there? How about the people who break the law but are state representatives, like DWI'S and taking expenses money for being at the special legislation secession but was not even there for it? Your logic is that conservative, cult following, bible thumping non-sense.
Some of these inmates are innocent. Thanks to our very flawed system not ALL of these inmates deserve to bake to death. Sit in your hot car in Texas after it's been sitting windows up for even just 30 minutes & see how long YOU last. I agree that it's not supposed to be the Hilton but even 80 degrees would be a large improvement. Being hateful is not the answer.
At Gurney Unit they cannot even buy a fan because it is a transfer unit! I was there this past weekend and after standing in line in the sun for 3 hours we finally got in. I thought everyone was going to have heat stroke, no shade, nothing. My son said it was 130 in there dorm that afternoon. he just wanted gatorade to drink he was so hot. This is just torture and TDCJ knows it, they don't care about anyone!! Please tell me where the sign the petition for this cruelty!!
As well the cost for ac in prison which will cost billions Not millions so its à safe bet it wont be getting done
It is that bad i work there and rioting never solves anything only will make it hotter and nnoone wants to get gassed when its that hot
Your an idiot and have no clue
I was in Hutchins State Jail on Dallas' south side in June and July 2011 when it was 110 outside for 10 days in a row. Next time your at Home Depot or Lowe's in the summer take a few minutes to educate yourself by spending just 10 minutes inside one of the little metal storage sheds they have set up in the parking lot. Don't forget to shut the door. Now picture a slightly larger version of that hot room filled with 50 other men and picture being in there 23 hours a day for months or years. Arriving from the air conditioned comfort of the privately run Lindsey Unit in Jacksboro as we moved from the air conditioned building that housed the administrative offices and strangely the seg unit, into a succession of increasingly blistering hot holding cells, my first thought was that even if the public were told that this kind of torture was being visited on the state's pot smokers and hot check writers there is simply no way anyone could believe how hot it is in there, unless you spend a lot of time in your car with the windows rolled up in the middle of the summer. Most people's frame of reference simply doesn't encompass anything as hellish as being forced to live in a metal building with no open windows or working fans for months. It is beyond brutal, it is beyond reprehensible or barbaric, it is emblematic of the banal sadism and institutional psychopathy of an institution whose culture embodies more closely that of the slave/master relationship than anything that exists outside it's walls in the modern world. Ironically at Hutchins the guards are 90% African, the heat is too much even for pwt or Mexican nationals. It doesn't surprise me one bit that temperatures in the high 140's were reported during that time. The folks who are so eager to denigrate those who don't feel it is appropriate to torture their fellow citizens for months and years because they ran from the police or got caught with a piece of plastic with illegal drug residue on it are the kind of people who make it easy to see how "normal" people can be led with minimum persuasion to do things like round up their neighbors and fence them off in concentration camps, they in fact are doing it as we speak and are proud of their sadism. When did wearing your mental defect on your shoulder replace knowing to be embarrassed or at least humble about one's idiocy in public? Who gave them the idea that smug self righteous cruelty and applauding the willful torture of American citizens by their own government is a posture worthy of anything other than contempt, scorn and derision? Instead of seeing their own position as the shameful and contemptible blatherings of the most dangerously weak minded among us, it appears some of these would be oven operators have gone so far afield they mistake their disorder for something akin to patriotism.
I think if a person breaks the law that they should be punished for that crime. I also think that person should be treated humanly while incarcerated.
reported to me, by my son an inmate in tdcj.10-11-14. fans are installed, but no ele. run to them.smart remarks are we may have to install fans, or air conditioners, but we don,t have to run them. Now don,t that sound like a typical tdcj excuse? there ought to be a better check and balance system. carol kobus
Yeah it's that bad, when you can't touch a stainless steel table because it's so hot just from the temp inside the room it's as bad as it gets. It don't have to be AC's to make a difference, water cooled fans would be 100x's better than it is. How you do your time should depend on your crime, child molesters for instance don't deserve what they have now. As far as some of the CO's they aren't any better than some of the inmates and some are worse because they hide behind the suit and then there are some that the only difference between them and the inmate is the inmate got caught.
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