This petition is written on behalf of all inmates confined in the TDCJ institutional and transfer divisions.  As we know and is common, Texas summers average temperatures well above 90 degrees and often venture into triple digits.  It is also widely known that the vast majority of TDCJ units are not temperature controlled.  This constitutes a danger to the inmate populous as a whole especially those who have heat affected illnesses. 

 

Based on the evidence provided below, we the loved ones of the above said inmates who are tax paying and voting citizens humbly ask that you address this cruel and unusual issue during your next legislative session.

 

TDCJ POLICY STANDARDS

 

According to TDCJ Administrative Directive A.D. 10.64 (rev. 9)

1.       The TDCJ shall establish guidelines to assist unit administration in adapting offender housing areas and work assignments to temperatures that cannot be controlled by the TDCJ.

2.      Every reasonable effort shall be made to prevent injuries related to excessive or extreme temperatures in the TDCJ.

3.      The TDCJ shall work closely with medical staff to immediately identify offenders at risk from excessive or extreme temperatures

We will address the above policy measures and demonstrate how TDCJ, despite its current efforts, is still in violation of its own policy.

 

The definition of the word adapt is “making something suitable for a new use or purpose; become adjusted to new conditions; to alter or make suitable.  This word indicates a permanent change to an object or situation to make it suitable for a new purpose.  TDCJ said that it shall “adapt offender housing areas and work assignments to temperatures that cannot be controlled by TDCJ”, yet the vast majority of housing areas are not temperature controlled. Most of the adaptation methods are focused on the actual individual and are temporary in isolated situations.  For example, if an inmate is overtaken on a heat related event, that inmate is taken to medical treated.  Once the inmate’s heat related crisis has been averted, the inmate is consigned  back to the housing area where the event took place.  Since the housing areas have not been “adapted to deal with the heat”, the inmate is still exposed to the stressor that caused the event in the first place. 

 

TDCJ defines excessive heat as an anomaly that occurs from a combination of significantly higher than normal temperatures and high humidity. According to the NOAA, between 07/22-23 in the state of Texas 120 record highs were broken throughout the state. (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cdo-web/datatools/records  Without any temperature controlled measures in place for the actually facility that houses the inmates, like the temperature inside a car, the temperature inside will be hotter than the temperature outside.  Yes in this situation some inmates have fans and are given cold water and I periodically throughout the day, but if the surrounding temperature is high enough, the fan ceases to cool as it is only circulating heated air and a drink of cold water only provides temporary respite in an excessively hot environment.  So if there is an excessive heat advisory in effect for the outside, this creates a critical situation for those inside, especially those dormitory units where there are no windows to open.  Even on the units were the windows are open, the sun beaming through the windows striking the various surfaces heating them up, causes the inside still to be hotter than the outside. This creates a dangerous situation for inmates especially for inmates with heat related illnesses and those who do not have a fan.

 

According to civil case 4:14-cv-01698 “TDCJ imprisons over 150,000 prisoners system-wide, there are only 551 beds available with air conditioning for inmates with medical conditions system-wide. These extremely limited beds are reserved for the patients at the most extreme risk of heat-related illness (such as advanced-stage cancer patients), and are not available even for patients with multiple conditions that make them more susceptible to heat-related illness, injury, or death – like Plaintiffs. TDCJ’s medical providers have testified before the Texas Legislature that these beds are filled by inmates who are so sick that they will never recover and will likely die in them.” (Case 4:14-cv-01698 Document 1 Filed in TXSD on 06/18/14 Page 6 of 36). For inmates with heat related illnesses this is a dire situation and poses an extreme risk to them because there is nowhere in the state that they can be housed to avoid these extreme weather anomalies except a place that is temperature controlled and it is clear that there are not enough beds at these facilities to assuage the needs of all the inmates with these types of conditions.

Most TDCJ units proport to be ACA accredited, yet one of the ACA standards is ““mechanically lower” temperatures in inmate housing areas. TDCJ is in violation of this standard because fans do not lower the temperature, only circulate hot air.

 

Heat Related Behavior Issues

 

It is no secret that violence escalates in Texas prisons during the summer months. Many studies show that heat increases aggression which ultimately could make the security in the prison more of a challenge. In an article by Forbes magazine, it was discovered that “A body of studies have shown that heat and climate change is coupled with aggression and violence. (https://www.forbes.com/sites/marshallshepherd/2017/07/23/three-reasons-prisons-and-extreme-heat-are-a-volatile-mix/#5fe2eed96308  (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10584-015-1566-0  The evidence is clear that there is a definite correlation between the extreme heat experienced in the summer and the trends of violence that is also prevalent in the summer months. In a study conducted by Iowa State University, it was found that “In effectively neutral and positive circumstances, hot temperatures can cause an increase in aggression.  Recent lab studies show that in effectively negative circumstances, heat causes an increase in initial retaliatory aggression” (https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/117b/5604539e7b7a6275366e7456bef85a8c251c.pdf When the physical body is miserable, it has a psychological and emotional effect on the individual as a  whole.  Couple that with an environment where people already have a history of violence and lack of self-control and you have a seriously dangerous mix.  Simple disagreements which under normal circumstances would be ignored or resolved verbally and civilly, can be exacerbated by the heat and misery of the parties involved leading to a confrontation fueled by emotion and discomfort.  So, the deliberate indifference of TDCJ towards the extreme heat in the summer months, not only poses a health threat to inmate and staff, but also creates a safety issue as well.

 

 

Legal Ramifications

Federal Judge Ellison in Cole v. Collier ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs (inmates) that it was cruel and unusual punishment to leave inmates with heat sensitive health issues in an environment where they are subject to what TDCJ itself describes as excessive heat. He ordered the TDCJ body modify the unit to make it temperature controlled to where in the summer months the temperature did not exceed 88 degrees.  TDCJ, although appealing the original order, has taken measures to comply with the injunction.

 

Although this injunction was focused on one unit.  The actual order concerned inmates with heat affected conditions. TDCJ policy holds the standard of being impartial to offenders in regards to policy. If this is true, then what they are doing for the inmates at the Pack 1 unit must be done for all inmates system wide who have similar conditions. For them not to adapt all environments where inmates with heat affected illnesses reside to uphold the standards set in the ruling by Judge Ellison, subjects the rest of the inmate body to discrimination. As it stands right now, the TDCJ entity is being partial to the inmates on the Pack unit while disregarding the other inmates throughout the system who face similar situations.  This deliberate indifference is what initiated the original lawsuit in the first place. 

 

For TDCJ to uphold its standards of being fair and impartial in regards to the inmate populous, it would have to create an environment where no inmate with heat affected or heat related illnesses would be subjected to this type of cruel and unusual punishment.  This also would bring them in line with the protocol in A.D. 10.64 and would “adapting offender housing areas and work assignments to temperatures that cannot be controlled by the TDCJ”.

TDCJ A.D 10.46 also states “TDCJ and medical staff shall work together to identify offenders susceptible to temperature-related illness due to medical conditions. As offenders arrive on intake facilities, a staff member from the medical department shall conduct an initial screening to determine if the offender has any conditions or is on any medication that would make the offender more susceptible to heat. If medical staff determines an offender has a condition or is on a medication that would make the offender more susceptible to heat, correctional staff shall be instructed to perform wellness checks on the offender until a full medical evaluation may be conducted.” It is widely document that TDCJ is short staffed on the majority of its units to the point where some units are locked down because the staff present is not adequate for the unit to operate at normal capacity.  If these units are operating with a skeleton crew, then it is highly improbable that they would have the staff force to be in compliance with this directive and conduct regular wellness checks.  So, if an inmate was experiencing a crisis immediate medical attention would not be attainable in a situation of staff shortage or perpetual lockdown. This is also a violation of the heat directive and can be remedied by making the environments were said inmates are housed temperature controlled.

Conclusion

There is no shortage of evidence to prove that there is definitely a crisis within the Texas prison system in the summer months.  This crisis not only affects the inmates health, but also their behavior.  This two-fold threat subjects the inmates and staff to a hostile hazardous environment within an agency that has sworn to protect them.  It has already been established by judge Ellison’s ruling that subjecting inmates with heat related and affected illnesses constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, yet the state is only addressing this issue at one unit while ignoring the other units that contain inmates with similar conditions.  The state has spent and continues to spend millions of tax payer’s dollars on legal fees to fight this issue, instead of using said funds to procure a remedy to this situation.  Their neglect regarding this  issue has resulted in unnecessary expense to tax payers, and created an environment that places inmates and officers alike in harm’s way.

 

Prayer

Our prayer is that you as a legislative body would and mandate legislative measures that require the TDCJ system to resolve this issue in a way that is not impartial to a single body of inmates on a single unit during the next legislative session.  We the people of Texas represent these inmates as some of them cannot represent themselves.  TDCJ passed the Safe Prisons directive as a means keep vulnerable inmates safe, yet forcing them to live in an institution where the very environment is a threat to them is counter productive in terms of maintaining their safety.  We the people of Texas are asking you in your legal capacity to represent us in the legislative session and provide a remedy for this cruel and unusual situation.

 

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