Texas Prisons Can Be Deadly During Summer

Heat waves are a major threat to prisoners this summer, especially those locked up in Texas prisons.

As global warming continues to intensify, the threat of deadly heat, especially when it comes to ageing convicts, is worsening. Almost half the prisons in the USA are suffering more and more hazardous heat days. Especially those in Texas and Florida.

“Hazardous heat” means the number of days when the indoor maximum temp tops 82 degrees. Facilities dealing with at least one hazardous heat day per year rose from 77 to 100 in a recent study.

The current threat to the incarcerated population risk is probably even greater than the analysis suggests given that the past three summers have been among the hottest on record.

America’s incarcerated population is at high risk of heat-related morbidity and mortality due to their physical confinement, age, high rates of chronic physical and mental illness and a general lack of concern about their welfare by lawmakers – and society at large.

Researchers also found that detention facilities – jails, prisons, work camps and migrant detention centers – are often built in the least hospitable places, where there is little cooling vegetation and communities have limited political power to resist.

The human body cannot begin to fully recover from high heat exposure until the temperature drops below 80 degrees. Prisoners in California and Arizona, along with Texas, are feeling the heat the worst.

The hottest prison in Texas, (Laredo’s Webb county jail), saw 59 more days of extra hot and humid conditions than the rest of Texas in 2020. Most prisons use evaporative coolers which … if you have one, you already know … are pretty much worthless on really humid days.

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