A Bill Requiring State Prisons to Have Air Conditioning Has Passed
Marlin, TX (FOX 44) – The Texas House has passed a bill that would require state prisons to have air conditioning.
The bill would require the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to install air conditioning at each of its facilities by the end of 2032. The TDCJ will install climate control units in three phases, each covering around one-third of the facilities they control.
Experts suggest that the lack of air conditioning in correctional facilities poses significant health and safety risks for inmates and staff because of the state's extreme heat conditions. In an exclusive interview only on Fox44 News, I spoke with an ex-inmate who served her time in Marlin's Hobby Unit. She says the summer months were deadly with no air conditioning.
'I'm upstairs, the top floor, and we're in a metal building, it's like extremely hot. It gets up to 150 degrees. They have little fans downstairs but not for upstairs. I mean we are criminals, but we are human. They treat us like dogs….and people are dying, they're killing us,'said former inmate Vanessa Parker.
Each phase is expected to cost around $100 million with the first required to be completed by December 31, 2028. The second phase would be completed by 2030, with the remaining facilities being complete by dec. 31, 2032.
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