Focus at Four: Expert says lack of air conditioning in Texas prisons is ‘dangerous’
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX) – More than two-thirds of the state’s prisons do not have air conditioning in most living areas, forcing thousands of prison officers and tens of thousands of prisoners to work and live in stifling temperatures. There were growing calls for the state to address this issue, but nothing was passed in the recent legislature.
“I’ve done a lot of work on prisons and emergency planning, they’re an overlooked population,” said Carlee Purdum, Ph.D., Assistant Director of the Hazard Reduction & Recovery Center at Texas A&M. “There really hasn’t been a lot of research on how do hazards, how do disasters impact prisons.”
These uncomfortably warm environments, according to Purdum, can exasperate health conditions or even create them.
“People who maybe came into prison and didn’t have a chronic illness or didn’t have certain health issues, they might develop them because they’re being exposed to that extreme heat. And then people who already had them, that condition is probably going to get worse,” said Purdum.
She says not much is being done about this issue. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has also not been moving forward with plans to create better conditions.
“Lawmakers should definitely be looking at the impacts to the system. Their responsibility is to ensure the health and safety not just of incarcerated people, but also in staff,” said Purdum.
