Marci Marie Simmons receives numerous letters from Texas prisoners expressing fear of the extreme heat.
One inmate wrote, “it gets so hot in the dorms the fan literally feels like a blow dryer is blowing hot air on my face.”
“These individuals, suffering due to the lack of climate control in Texas prisons, were not sentenced to death,” Simmons stated.
Simmons, along with multiple advocacy groups, is suing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for cruel and unusual punishment.
Their lawsuit alleges that Texas prisoners and guards are “being cooked to death,” citing un-air-conditioned inmate housing units as contributing to 14 deaths per year from 2001 to 2019.
Simmons spent a decade in these same prisons and described conditions where inmates would use toilet water to cool off during hot summer months.
The TDCJ confirmed that there are 14 units within its system with no A/C, 31 fully climate-controlled units, and 55 with partial A/C.
While TDCJ acknowledges the need for A/C system-wide, citing budget constraints as a barrier to implementation.
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Texas Representative Carl Sherman notes the state’s surplus and proposed bills for mandated temperature control in prisons, but has not seen progress in the Senate.
Governor Gregg Abbott has not addressed calls for a special legislative session to address heat concerns in prisons.
“The most common argument I hear is ‘if you do the crime, you do the time,’ but these are not animals we’re talking about,” Sherman emphasized.
Simmons recalled feeling subhuman compared to pigs in climate-controlled barns owned by the TDCJ.
A federal judge is considering emergency relief for Texas inmates, with Simmons testifying in a recent injunction hearing.
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