Texas death row prisoners spend decades in solitary confinement. A lawsuit wants to end that “cruel” treatment.

The Allan B. Polunsky Unit in Livingston, where male Texas death row prisoners are held in solitary confinement. (Credit: Texas Department of Criminal Justice)

Texas death row prisoners are suing the state, arguing it’s unconstitutional to hold them in solitary confinement for the entirety of their metered lives with minimal health care, no regard for their mental suffering and few avenues to seek legal help.

On death row, men are shut alone in small cells between 22 and 24 hours a day, often violating the state’s own policies on how often they are let out, the lawsuit says. On good days, they get to take a shower or go outside for an hour, alone in a cage. More often, due to short staffing, they spend their days sitting on a metal bed, listening to the echoing voices of other prisoners and guards through steel doors and concrete walls. If they roll up their thin mattresses to stand on, prisoners have said they can peek out the narrow window slits at the top of their cell walls to see the sky.