Inmate Families Sue Over Heat-Related Prison Deaths

[davidn3600]

As summer temperatures begin to soar, the Texas Civil Rights Project and Austin lawyer Jeff Edwards filed wrongful death lawsuits Thursday against the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the University of Texas Medical Branch, alleging that they failed to protect four prisoners who died from heat stroke.

Inmates Douglas Hudson, Kenneth Wayne James and Rodney Adams were housed at the Gurney facility near Tennessee Colony, and Robert Allen Webb was at the Hodge facility near Rusk when they died. The lawsuits allege that all four men — serving time for nonviolent crimes — suffered from medical conditions that made them more susceptible to heat. Prison officials wouldn't comment on the litigation but said they work to ensure the safety of prisoners during the hottest months of the year.

“TDCJ knew putting men with these medical conditions in temperatures this high could kill them, but they did it anyway,” Edwards said in a news release.

Webb and Adams, according to the lawsuit, were prescribed psychotropic drugs that made dehydration a greater threat.

The Gurney and Hodge facilities are “death traps,” Scott Medlock, director of the TCRP’s prisoners’ rights program, said in the release. “If TDCJ officers locked a dog in a hot car, they would go to prison for animal cruelty. Doing this to human beings, no matter what crime they were convicted of, is unconscionable.”

http://www.texastribune.org/2013/06/13/inmates-families-sue-tdcj-utmb-heat-stroke-deaths/

There has been at least 13 heat-related deaths in Texas prisons since 2007. Most of these prisons do not have any form of climate control or ventilation. Temperatures have been reported over 110 degrees, some lawyers and civil rights groups say it gets up to 130.

[KansDem]

1. Humidity

Temperatures have been reported over 110 degrees, some lawyers and civil rights groups say it gets up to 130.

I remember visiting relatives in Dallas one summer during the '60s and how humid it was! I rarely went outside the house and must have spent the bulk of my time sitting near the air conditioner. Whenever I did venture outdoors it felt like I had to swim through the air.

And it's extremely difficult, if not impossible to lower your body temperature when it's hot and humid and you don't have access to AC.

It was a hot day in Dallas for this California kid but the humidity made it unbearable!

[davidn3600]

3. Im in Florida, and it gets worse with the humidity here

I've lived here 25 years. You do get somewhat used to the humidity. But it still wears you down. That's why so many people have pools down here.

[Cooley Hurd]

2. Rec!!!

The treatment of those incarcerated has been HORRIBLE for far-too-long.

[twb2k]

4. Outrageous

Until recently I had no idea this was the case in the Texas prison system. I have a relative who recently was incarcerated at one of these facilities and was told he had no A/C and no fans to circulate the air and he worked in the kitchen. This was a state run prison. I don't know if there are any corporate run sites in Texas, but they would probably be better operated than this. I lived in Texas for years and I can testify the heat there in the summer months can be debilitating. As noted by someone in a previous comment "you couldn't leave your dog in a car" without there being criminal consequences, so can anyone explain to me how a government run facility can get away with this? I recognize prison should not be a day at the spa, but it's purpose is not to be inhumane to the inmates. To let anyone die from dehydration and heat exposure is nothing short of torture and criminal negligence. There is no excuse for this, not even greed could explain this type of behavior on behalf of the government. Someone needs to be held accountable for the deaths of these inmates. Today, it's someone else's son or father or brother or uncle or husband, tomorrow it may be yours.