Heat Is Killing Texas Prisoners, and State Leaders Won’t Shell Out for AC
This story was originally published by Slate and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Bernhardt Tiede has diabetes and hypertension, and is obese. In the summer of 2023, he suffered a stroke in a Texas prison cell that court documents say regularly exceeded 110 degrees. If there were ever a person the state should flag as vulnerable […]
A federal lawsuit brought by a diabetic and hypertensive prisoner over air conditioning in Texas prisons has sparked a two-year legal battle. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) uses a heat-sensitivity score to determine which inmates are most at risk of heat-related harm in cells without air conditioning. However, the scoring system is widely criticized as inadequate and arbitrary, with only about 10% of Texas prisoners having a score.
This has led to the state's failure to protect vulnerable inmates, as demonstrated by the case of Bernhardt Tiede, who suffered a stroke in a 110-degree prison cell despite being a prime candidate for AC. The heat-sensitivity score is based on a formula considering medical conditions and medications, but it often fails to identify those most at risk.
In one instance, Tiede was removed from the case before trial due to a policy update prioritizing inmates aged 65 and above. The lawsuit, which wrapped up in an Austin courtroom on April 9, highlights the disproportionate impact of extreme heat on incarcerated individuals and the state's refusal to allocate sufficient resources to address the issue.
Written by urgent.news from Mother Jones's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — it may contain errors, so check the original before relying on it.
