How Hot Is Too Hot for Texas Prisons? Not 107 Degrees, According to TDCJ

How hot does it need to get before Texas prisons say "too hot"?

Last year, John Castillo, 32, was found dead after he collapsed in his Gatesville cell with a body temperature of 107.5 degrees. Despite this being almost 10 degrees above the average for an adult male, Texas prison officials still reject the claim that Castillo's death was caused by lack of air conditioning.

Details on Castillo's death

Just before 11 pm on August 5th of last year, the indoor temperature of the prison was 94 degrees, and Castillo's cellmate alerted the prison guards that he had collapsed in his cell and was unresponsive. Prison staff rushed him to the medical unit for chest compressions and CPR, but resuscitation efforts were useless as Castillo was already dead.

Castillo had a history of epileptic episodes and seizures which ended up being the reason for his sudden demise, per the doctor's determination.

However, enough Texans have spoken out about how lack of A/C in state prisons constitute cruel and unusual punishment, going so far as to file a lawsuit against the state.

Prison A/C lawsuit against Texas

Multiple names were included in the lawsuit where the heat could have impacted their death, including others like Patrick Womack who died with a core temperature of 106.9.

The document lays out the fact that, currently, Texas county jails must be kept between 65 and 85 degrees, but prisons are NOT included in the requirements.

In fact, because of the volume of public response, as of 2023, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice allocated $85 million to add air conditioning to roughly 43,000 cells so far across the state.

Before this initiative, about 30 out of 100 Texas prisons were fully air conditioned with 130,000 inmates in total in 90 degree temperatures or higher.

Despite this, Texas Department of Justice (TDCJ) claims there have not been any heat-related deaths since 2012.

So, what do you think? Should Texas legislature spend the money to address this concern urgently?