Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by the end of 2029

Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by the end of 2029 texastribune.org

High temperatures violate the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment, the judge ruled. Texas will appeal.

120 points•bonefishgrill•6 days ago•202 comments•

#judge #texas #orders #condition #prisons #air #federal #federal judge

202 comments

MichaelNolan6 days ago

Just out of college I didn’t know what I wanted to do, so I took a job at a prison near Phoenix AZ. It was outdoors, the cells had no AC. In a 10 hour shift in 115 (46c) degree weather I would go through 1.5 gallons (5.6 liters) of water. Every single day at least one inmate would pass out from the heat. At least they got heat for the winter.

Thankfully I left all that behind a long time ago. Though I just checked and they still don’t have AC.

There is a fairly famous quote: “The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons” - Fyodor Dostoevsky

jmpman5 days ago

Was this "tent city"? I recall "tent city" was a Joe Arpaio creation that was ultimately closed down in 2017 after he lost reelection as sheriff. My closest experience with "tent city" was when a relative got busted for DUI and ended up spending a weekend there. Was quite the deterrent, as it should be, and his drunk driving was dramatically curtailed. Ultimately that's good for society.

throwawayqqq116 days ago

Was it a privately owned prison? How much freedom do private prisons have to turn opaque for inspectors?

MichaelNolan6 days ago

No I worked at a state run prison. All I know about the private ones is 1. The staff get paid less, and 2. They mostly only get “good” inmates. That was over a decade ago so idk if the 2nd part is still true.

WalterBright6 days ago

Arizona was thinly populated before A/C.

AlotOfReading6 days ago

Not really. The precolonial southwest was fairly densely populated, with some areas exceeding their modern density. Population density grew sparser for various reasons after the mid-14th century until Spanish colonialism created some dramatic demographic changes. The southwest remained a pretty lawless place on the frontiers of empires where armed conflict was commonplace for the next few hundred years, until after the turn of the 20th century. Would you want to move into a civil war even if it had AC?

AC was coincidentally invented as all of this was clearing up, but it wouldn't become ubiquitous until decades later after the major cities had been established with large populations. And even then, I'd blame cheap accessibility of long distance transportation more than AC for the modern state.

BugsJustFindMe6 days ago

This feels like a non sequitur?

pandaman6 days ago

Where did Dostoyevsky write that?

defrost6 days ago

He rarely wrote in English (if at all?) - so, never.

It is an attributed quote, translated, from discussions on and around his semi-autobiographical novel about time spent in prison.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_House_of_the_Dead_(novel)

robocat5 days ago

Apparently he didn't and he wouldn't.

It's just been credited to him.

boredatoms6 days ago

The US needs to get over this whole ‘punishment’ view of prison. It either a social-safety quarantine, or a rehabilitation

Henchman215 days ago

While I agree, it can’t happen. The Puritanical strain runs too deep, to say nothing of Barbary Slave culture which absolutely continues to persist in the South despite slavery being outlawed.

Punishment is among the most American things that exist — and this is part of the reason I won’t mourn the passing of the US.

zamadatix6 days ago

Director Lumpkin should be criminally responsible for these conditions and deaths he has been indifferent to.

Wistar6 days ago

Such an appropriate-sounding name he has.

jimbo4566 days ago

The only truly endless resource is man's inhumanity to his fellow man.

nh23423fefe6 days ago

I know. There seem to be an infinite supply of criminals doing crime.

QuercusMax6 days ago

I don't understand why Texas voters support such inhumane conditions. All these "Christians" who support this kind of cruel punishment need to have a "come to Jesus" moment, literally.

dkural6 days ago

It's because Texas is the OG of human suffering. Texas gave up territory than end slavery: This is why Oklahoma looks so weird (the "panhandle"). After the so-called Missouri compromise, in order to remain a slave-state, Texas gave up that piece of land. Also, Texas declared independence not once, but twice, to remain a slave state. First, from Mexico: "Many Anglo-American settlers were from the southern United States and brought enslaved workers, using legal loopholes like indentured servitude to bypass Mexican restrictions against slavery. They feared Mexico would abolish the practice entirely". And then, famously, of course, fighting to remain independent during the Civil War.

ceroxylon6 days ago

Your point is valid, but it is worth noting that the panhandle territory was a notoriously inhospitable place to try and exist (for European settlers at least, who called it "no mans land"), so it wasn't like Texas was giving up a gem, none of the surrounding states wanted it.

francisofascii6 days ago

There is so much nuance with this. On the one hand, Texas has hot enough days where it is inhumane/dangerous to not have A/C. But also plenty of days that are hot, but bearable. There are plenty of citizens not in prison that live without AC and make due with fans. HVAC systems are ridiculusly expensive. $1.5 billion is about $10K a person. Too bad they can't just give each prisoner a window unit for $200 a piece.

jknoepfler6 days ago

Fans have no cooling effect once the ambient temperature exceeds human body temperature, so "making do with fans" is literally making do with nothing.

Those citizens "making do" generally have freedom of movement, free access to cool water, air-conditioned businesses or vehicles, and are not locked down in a concrete facility.

There is a absolutely no nuance to this.

realo6 days ago

How much do you think it costs, in total, per prisoner today, per year?

Yeah. A one-shot investment of 10k$ per prisoner to avoid more manslaughter cases is peanuts, really.

kube-system6 days ago

> $1.5 billion is about $10K a person. Too bad they can't just give each prisoner a window unit for $200 a piece.

The former almost certainly includes other installation part, utility, and labor costs. Even if you could give everyone a $200 window unit, you'd need to deliver, install, upgrade utilities, maintain them, etc.

AngryData5 days ago

People outside of prison have freedom of movement to avoid overheating and access to a variety of enviroments and cold drinks and personal fans.

Some times people walk into supermarkets just to cool down.

iAMkenough6 days ago

These are Nationalist Christians (Nat-C’s), not actual followers of Jesus.

pixl976 days ago

"They are hurting the right people". This is 100% their mentality.

krapp6 days ago

You don't get to decide who is and isn't a "true" Christian when all it takes is to believe in Jesus' death and resurrection, which even the Prosperity Gospel Christians and Christian Nationalists do.

jastanton6 days ago

But largely supported by people that would call themselves actual Christians FYI, and not even right wing extremist either.

shimman6 days ago

Just because these people don't worship or believe the same things as your sect of christianity does not stop them from believing in the teachings of Christ. They just don't agree with you while holding positions of power.

Prosperity gospel is a real thing too, also the fastest sect of christianity growing in the world.

Read the full thread on Hacker News →

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