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https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/09/texas-heat-prisons-lawsuit
At Coffield, inmates were being forced to spend up to six hours in the exercise yard, known as the day room. The space is designed to provide respite for prisoners outside their cells, but has become a heat trap with no AC and no access to water.
Robertson’s inquiries suggest that Wilson had spent up to five hours in the day room immediately before he collapsed in his cell. A TDCJ spokesperson declined to comment on Wilson’s death, saying the department “doesn’t comment on pending litigation”.
[…]
Hanby wrote the letter from Coffield, where Wilson died. He described the conditions as “torture by heat – Texas is killing people every year who haven’t been sentenced to death”.
The prisoner was being housed in “a tiny cell with sheet metal on the door for 24 hours a day”. He has high blood pressure and is fearful that he may not make it.
“If I don’t survive this summer, TDCJ will use their favorite excuse and claim that I died of a heart attack,” he wrote. “That will be a lie. It will be the heat that claims me, and if not me, then so many others like me.”
Despite what ppl tell you, prisoners are ppl. Treating murders, rapists, thieves, etc worse than they did their victims is not justice
One of the dead guys was sentenced for unlawful possession of a firearm. Not that he necessarily did anything with it; he just had it.
On the front page earlier today was an account of somebody who carried a gun; in two separate instances, people from his neighborhood ambushed him and shot him (and in one instance it was verified on security footage that he defended himself with it after he’d been shot, and would have been killed without having the gun on him). In both cases he got charged with unlawful possession and imprisoned for the gun that saved his life.
Violent criminals are a fairly small fraction of total inmates, and a whopping 76% of the Texas jail population hasn’t even been convicted of a crime.
Also, Texas loves rapists and most of them aren’t in prison anyway. Not to mention Abbott just pardoned that convicted homicidal murderer.
Abbott just pardoned that convicted homicidal murderer.
Looked that up and wow thats crazy. Man texted all his racist friends about wanting to kill black people in the morning. Then he ran his car into a crowd of people. Someone walks up to him with a gun (i wonder why?) and he kills him.
This is only local jails, which makes sense as people are waiting trial then move on to long term prison.
In my local county (in Texas), there was a guy in jail for 5 years without trial (I think he’s going in 6 years without trial, but a go-fund-me paid his bail last year), and 2 years in jail without trial is not uncommon.
Cruel and unusual punishment.
Ah but the Supreme Court ruled that punishment is only forbidden if it’s cruel and unusual, and it’s not unusual if it happens all the time. Checkmate, atheists.
As a Texan — please tell me what I can do to try to change this? I’m already voting. Is there a legal non profit I can donate to that is suing to change this?
Slightly related, but mailing prisoners lwould be great. Even if one correspence with one prisoner you send once a couple months, it really improves the mental health of people in prison for a long time, most often family and friends have forgotten about/abandoned them, and having someone on the outside to occasionally talk to can be such a relief.
I don’t know anything about them, but found these that you can donate and volunteer for: https://www.tpcadvocates.org/ https://tifa.org/ https://www.texasjailproject.org/
Donating to and canvassing for politicians that would change this could also help.
Supporting good journalism can also help. I really like the Texas Observer.
https://civilrights.justice.gov/
This is where you can report the prisons that are cooking people alive. They might already be aware of it since it hit the news though. Or you can report Texas for any of other civil rights violations they’ve been committing recently. It might not accomplish much, but they at least deserve to be investigated for their disturbing activity.
Also, I feel like people in general should be aware that government website exists. I didn’t know about it until just now. Knowledge is power and all that.
