HOUSTON (AP) – Texas corrections officials are under a federal judge’s order to submit a plan by the end of the day to relieve hundreds of “heat-sensitive” inmates from the sweltering conditions inside a Southeast Texas prison.
U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison has ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to lower the housing area temperatures to 88 degrees (31.11 Celsius) at the Pack Unit about 65 miles (104.6 kilometers) northwest of Houston by reconfiguring prison areas already air conditioned. He also said the inmates could be transferred to other state prisons.
Ellison acted on a lawsuit from six prisoners who argued the intense summer heat threatened their health and violated their constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment. Inmates under Ellison’s injunction have health conditions or are at least 65 years old.
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