Inmates in Texas state prisons are being "cooked alive" by scorching temperatures in facilities without air conditioning, a new investigation claims. Documents obtained by The Texas Newsroom, a public radio collaboration of multiple Texas stations, showed that even as inmates died with body temperatures nearing 107 degrees, officials have continued to blame their deaths on causes other than extreme heat.
In 2023, a Texas prisoner filed a lawsuit challenging the state's refusal to adequately control heat levels. The suit alleged that the state was violating its own laws surrounding prison temperatures, as well as violating inmates' Eighth Amendment rights to be free from cruel and unusual punishment.
