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Why Aren’t People Talking About the Fact That US Prisons Don’t Provide Air-Conditioning?

As the summer comes to a close, U.S. prisoners are still facing a deadly heat wave in Texas. If you have been to Texas or visit the state particularly in the summer, you would know how unbelievably hot it is during the summer months. The average temperature for Texas in the summer ranges between 80 and 85 degrees, but the highest can reach up to 100 degrees in other areas of the state. Now, you might think, “How does the heat have to deal with U.S. prisoners?” Well, thousands of Americans, notably workers, become ill or die from constant heat exposure.

When working outside on a hot summer day, you are exposing yourself in potentially becoming ill or die from the sweltering sun on your back. Moreover, the Environmental Protection Agency states that excessive heat is one of the contributing factors for death among Americans. Inmates and guards are subjected to these extremely high temperatures and humidity due to the work-related conditions during the summer. These facilities force their prisoners to work outside provide no air-conditioning, which is just violating basic human rights. There has been an ongoing case of prisoners suing their prisons to implement better accommodations.

You might ask why should we provide air-conditioning to prisoners if they committed such crimes? You have to understand that prisoners are humans too. They deserve basic necessities like we do: air-conditioning. In fact, University of Texas School of Law reports that since 2007, at least fourteen inmates have died due to extreme heat in nine TDCJ prisons. This following year they provided things such as water and ice to staff and inmates in work and units; those who have been exposed to heat-related illnesses are referred to medical assitance.

On the contrary, how does providing aliments are going to ensure that inmates or guards won’t die from simply working outside without no air-conditioning? It’s not adequate. The staff giving these remedies that the inmates are given is tampered with arsenic and other hazards; in which it could augment their chance of health-related problems or death due to the exposure of poison. There has been a study on arsenic in drinking water (i.e. the water that the prisoners are drinking) found to have links of cancer. In Taiwan, populous areas have high arsenic levels in well water. A person who drinks it will have a lifetime risk from cancer. One can indicate that if people in Taiwan living in those areas will possibly have cancer some point in their lives, then the prisoners will be affected as well. They are still not providing what the prisoners so desperately need.

The problem in getting those specific accommodations is merely the cost of it. Some facilities are in short of staff members already, which doesn’t help with the fight either. Neither of those are excuses for ignoring providing basic human needs to prisoners. The administrators of these facilities heavily believe the problem will just solve on itself, but it’s not going to go away, especially when the summer months resuscitate.

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