Sheriff Johnwayne Valdez of the Rusk County Sheriff’s Department filed a custodial death report (CDR) about the death of Johnny Charles Bradley on July 25, 2023, two days after his death. According to the CDR, a preliminary autopsy report indicates that the death was due to natural causes—cardiovascular disease/heart attack.

How are Inmates Protected from Life-Threatening Heat?

For years, efforts have continued to ensure that inmates in Texas aren’t left to languish and die in the heat of summer. Mitigating measures that have been implemented include providing prisoners with personal fans and access to cold showers and iced water. They are allowed time in air-conditioned areas, as well. Prisoners deemed medically sensitive are now being moved into air-conditioned units. This includes inmates on certain medications and those with heart problems.

But inmates consistently reported, between 2018 and 2020, that they are not provided with access to relief from the heat, as policies require.

An argument brought forth this summer points out that more heat-related illnesses were reported among staff (nine) than prisoners (five). These are presented as facts, even though inmates don’t get to leave their environment and inmates outnumber officers by more than 7 to 1.

Since 2012, the Texas jail and prison system has not officially counted one heat-related death. This statistic occurred shortly after at least ten prisoners died of a heat stroke during the scorchingly hot summer of 2011.

Learn more in Part 1 of this ongoing series.

Helping Texas county and municipal jail detainees and their families with resources is one of the purposes of this website. There is no intention of implicating that persons or institutions have engaged in wrongdoing.

–Guest Contributor