Texas heat wave has inmates’ families worried about lack of air conditioning in state’s prisons

By JUAN A. LOZANO
Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — As a summer heat wave continues to bake most of Texas, family members of inmates are calling for all of the state’s prisons to be fully air conditioned. Only about 30% of Texas’ 100 prisons are fully air conditioned. During a rally Tuesday outside the Texas Capitol in Austin, families and advocates called for a special legislative session to address the issue. Families of inmates and advocates allege temperatures that often go past 120 degrees Fahrenheit inside prisons in the summer have been responsible for hundreds of inmate deaths in recent years. Texas prison officials say there have been no heat-related deaths in the state’s prisons since 2012.