Houston Federal Judge who Ordered Relief for Texas Heat-Sensitive Inmates to Hear an Alleged Heat-Related Inmate Death Case
U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison of Houston ordered the Texas prison system to provide at-risk inmates of Pack Unit in Navasota, Texas, with air conditioning. State officials opted instead to move those inmates to an air-conditioned facility in another prison. Ellison is now set to rule on a lawsuit filed last week regarding the death of inmate Quintero Jones, who allegedly died of heat-related distress.
Only July 31, 2015, Jones was incarcerated at McConnell Unit in Beeville, Texas. It is un-air-conditioned, as most Texas prisons are. A prison guard allegedly took Jones’ asthma pump away from him that morning, and he was supposed to have it on his person at all times. The lawsuit filed by the family alleges that the heat index inside the prison that day was almost 110 degrees. Inmates who witnessed events surrounding Jones’ death wrote letters claiming that Jones suffered and begged for his inhaler for hours before dying.
Jones’ family is suing the Texas prison system as well as several prison officials and doctors in their lawsuit.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) does not list Jones’ death as being heat-related. Their records indicate that since 1998, 23 inmates in the Texas prison system have died of heat stroke. Research by Dallas news outlet WFAA shows that, since 2005, 21 inmates in Texas prisons died in asthma-related incidents. They also claim that about 23 inmates have died of heat-related causes in Texas prisons in just the past 10 years.
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