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HOUSTON: On the afternoon of July 4, as Americans were celebrating the country’s independence with elaborate displays of fireworks, a prisoner named Joseph Martyr passed out in his cell at Texasamid the intense heat that has gripped most of the southern United States in recent days.
In concrete, brick, and metal prisons, industrial fans blow out warm steam without really cooling the air.
With no air conditioning for the most part prisonsWhen outside temperatures exceed 40°C (104°F), it can feel hotter inside the cells.
Some prisoners vandalize the toilets in their cells to make the water overflow and wet the floor on which they then sleep. Others wet their clothes in an effort to stay cool, according to convicts, ex-convicts and their family members who spoke to AFP.
In recent weeks, the 35-year-old Martyr has had four heat-related seizures at Estelle Prison in Huntsville, where he has spent 16 years.
He told his family over the phone: “I just passed out, the medical (staff) refused to see me and I don’t know what to do.” They called the prison administration to ask for help.
When other inmates sense someone passed out in a nearby cell, Martyr said, they scream to get the guard’s attention, but staffing shortages often mean delays.
The injured inmate is then taken to an administrative area of ​​the prison that has air conditioning for what is called a “rest period”. Prisoners try to stay as long as possible.
“I really had a lot of health problems before because of the heat,” said Martyr.
When asked about the nature of the heat in the cells, Amit Dominic of the NGO Advocates for Texas Community Prisons replied: “The quickest way I can explain is, go sit in your car on a triple-figure day. Bring your hair dryer with you. Break your window a little bit.”
The Texas Tribune news site reported that at least nine people died in state prisons in June from heart attacks or other causes that may have been heat-related.
But Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which is responsible for prisons, said the last heat-related death occurred in 2012.
She added that in June, the department had treated seven cases of people affected “beyond first aid”, but there were no deaths.
The department, which oversees 126,000 prisoners, said 32 people died in June from various causes.
Dominic opposed this breakdown.
“Usually something like ‘cardiac arrest’ will be reported by the coroner because heatstroke is highly associated with cardiac arrest,” she said.
“We see the same reports, we see medical evidence of what’s happening to the body.
“You know, during these kinds of temperatures, these are heat-related deaths,” Dominic added.
Sean Adams, 36, has served time in a prison called Clemens Unit, in Brazoria, Texas, but inmates call him “burns like hell.”
“It’s one of those old red brick units, you know,” Adams said. “So the red brick is basically what the kilns are made of.”
The Department of Corrections said inmates have access to ice and water, and can go to air-conditioned rest spaces when necessary.
Samantha, whose daughter is 25 from imprisonment at Lane Murray Prison, said three prisoners died there in June of heat-related causes.
“The way they are being treated is inhumane,” she said.
“In the summer Marcy Marie Simmons, 44, an ex-convict and activist, said:
In late June, she said, a 36-year-old female prisoner died in Estel Prison after hours of talking to her mother and complaining about the heat.
Michelle Lively, her partner Sean McMahon, 49, said, “If we go and leave a child or a human or an animal in a car, we’re going to go to jail. But the state of Texas wants to cook our Texas.” Wayne prison.
“And some of them are dying, and they have a short, stupid drug charge, like, and they have a death sentence because they can’t take the heat,” she said.
In leaks to the media, prison workers also complained about their working conditions, including the free ones.
Legislative efforts to do something about the heat have been unsuccessful, Dominic said, as bills requiring air conditioning in prisons have petered out in the conservative-majority Texas Senate.
Meanwhile, the state recently spent more than $750,000 to purchase several air-cooled units for a large hog operation partially run by prisoners, Dominic said.
“And they don’t have it for humans.”
In concrete, brick, and metal prisons, industrial fans blow out warm steam without really cooling the air.
With no air conditioning for the most part prisonsWhen outside temperatures exceed 40°C (104°F), it can feel hotter inside the cells.
Some prisoners vandalize the toilets in their cells to make the water overflow and wet the floor on which they then sleep. Others wet their clothes in an effort to stay cool, according to convicts, ex-convicts and their family members who spoke to AFP.
In recent weeks, the 35-year-old Martyr has had four heat-related seizures at Estelle Prison in Huntsville, where he has spent 16 years.
He told his family over the phone: “I just passed out, the medical (staff) refused to see me and I don’t know what to do.” They called the prison administration to ask for help.
When other inmates sense someone passed out in a nearby cell, Martyr said, they scream to get the guard’s attention, but staffing shortages often mean delays.
The injured inmate is then taken to an administrative area of ​​the prison that has air conditioning for what is called a “rest period”. Prisoners try to stay as long as possible.
“I really had a lot of health problems before because of the heat,” said Martyr.
When asked about the nature of the heat in the cells, Amit Dominic of the NGO Advocates for Texas Community Prisons replied: “The quickest way I can explain is, go sit in your car on a triple-figure day. Bring your hair dryer with you. Break your window a little bit.”
The Texas Tribune news site reported that at least nine people died in state prisons in June from heart attacks or other causes that may have been heat-related.
But Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which is responsible for prisons, said the last heat-related death occurred in 2012.
She added that in June, the department had treated seven cases of people affected “beyond first aid”, but there were no deaths.
The department, which oversees 126,000 prisoners, said 32 people died in June from various causes.
Dominic opposed this breakdown.
“Usually something like ‘cardiac arrest’ will be reported by the coroner because heatstroke is highly associated with cardiac arrest,” she said.
“We see the same reports, we see medical evidence of what’s happening to the body.
“You know, during these kinds of temperatures, these are heat-related deaths,” Dominic added.
Sean Adams, 36, has served time in a prison called Clemens Unit, in Brazoria, Texas, but inmates call him “burns like hell.”
“It’s one of those old red brick units, you know,” Adams said. “So the red brick is basically what the kilns are made of.”
The Department of Corrections said inmates have access to ice and water, and can go to air-conditioned rest spaces when necessary.
Samantha, whose daughter is 25 from imprisonment at Lane Murray Prison, said three prisoners died there in June of heat-related causes.
“The way they are being treated is inhumane,” she said.
“In the summer Marcy Marie Simmons, 44, an ex-convict and activist, said:
In late June, she said, a 36-year-old female prisoner died in Estel Prison after hours of talking to her mother and complaining about the heat.
Michelle Lively, her partner Sean McMahon, 49, said, “If we go and leave a child or a human or an animal in a car, we’re going to go to jail. But the state of Texas wants to cook our Texas.” Wayne prison.
“And some of them are dying, and they have a short, stupid drug charge, like, and they have a death sentence because they can’t take the heat,” she said.
In leaks to the media, prison workers also complained about their working conditions, including the free ones.
Legislative efforts to do something about the heat have been unsuccessful, Dominic said, as bills requiring air conditioning in prisons have petered out in the conservative-majority Texas Senate.
Meanwhile, the state recently spent more than $750,000 to purchase several air-cooled units for a large hog operation partially run by prisoners, Dominic said.
“And they don’t have it for humans.”
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