As record-breaking heat broils Dallas-Fort Worth, people incarcerated in federal prisons in North Texas face potentially deadly conditions due to inadequate air conditioning, according to an advocate and family members (article available here).
FCI Seagoville, a low-security federal prison just outside Dallas, houses nearly 2,000 people in eight buildings in its main compound. Nearly all of those buildings have broken air conditioning units, resulting in dangerously hot conditions, according to three women whose loved ones are incarcerated at Seagoville and Derek Gilna.
Two of the buildings have air conditioning, while the other six buildings have barely working or completely broken air conditioning systems.
Air conditioning in state and federal prisons can be a lethal issue, especially as climate change leads to increasingly dangerous heat. At least nine inmates in Texas state prisons without AC have died this summer of heart attacks or unknown causes, the Texas Tribune reported.