IN-DEPTH: Texas Prisons are ‘Cooking’ Their Inmates in Cells Without Air-Conditioning, Families Say

The majority of Texas inmates are living in prison cells without access to air conditioning. Prison advocates and family members say their loved ones are being tortured by extreme heat and lack of cold water and ice.

Advocates for cooling Texas prisons pray during a news conference at the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas, on July 18, 2023. Eric Gay/AP Photo

Summertime in Texas is brutal, and for those without access to air-conditioning, it can be deadly. Since mid-June, excessive temperatures reaching 105 to 110 degrees and heat index values up to 120 have baked the region. And the next seven-day forecast shows more of the same.

Heat-related emergency department visits have surged this summer, and by the end of June, 13 deaths across the state were attributed to hyperthermia, an abnormally high body temperature caused by excessive heat exposure.