Jose Trinidad Barrera was transported by ambulance to St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital on June 28, 2023. Mr. Barrera was in the custody of Bexar County Adult Detention Center, Annex, in San Antonio, Texas, at the time. He remained at St. Luke’s Baptist until his July 7, 2023, death. On the day he died, he was transported from his assigned hospital room to the operating room so that he could be prepped for harvesting surgery. At 1:28 PM he was removed from the ventilator, and at 2:33 PM he was pronounced deceased by a physician. The address of St. Luke’s Baptist Hospital is 7930 Floyd Curl Dr, San Antonio TX 78229.

Does the Texas Heat Cause Inmate Deaths in County Jails? Continued

Results of research showed that it is often impossible to determine whether heat stopped someone’s heart or if it was spurred by, for instance, drugs, long-term smoking, or any number of other possible causes of heart failure. A physician said that it is very difficult to know if heat caused an individual’s death unless they go into the emergency room with an extremely high temperature.

Emergency personnel were unable to confirm whether the body temperatures of inmates were checked before they died.

TDCJ, in recent years, has adopted mitigating measures against the heat. The inmates are provided with personal fans, access to iced water, time in air-conditioned areas, and they are allowed to take cold showers. Those who are considered medically sensitive to the heat are moved into air-conditioned units.

Learn more in Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 of this ongoing series.

One of the reasons this website was created was to provide Texas inmates in municipal and county jails and their families with helpful resources. There is no intention of making accusations against individuals or entities on this site.

–Guest Contributor