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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Ed Pilkington

‘It’s torture’: brutal heat broils Texas prisons, killing dozens of inmates

Prison fence with razor wire against a sunny sky
Legal action aims to force the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to air condition all its prisons, about two-thirds of which currently lack AC. Photograph: Getty Images/iStockphoto

When Jason Wilson was transferred in June to the Coffield Unit, a men’s prison in Texas, to serve his sentence for unlawful possession of a firearm, he was initially pleased by the change of scenery. He was aware that the lock-up could be challenging in summer, given its lack of air conditioning and the intense heat in the cells, but his previous institution had been depressing.

“It’s better here for sure,” he wrote in an email to an outside advocate.

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