But U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman’s warnings to Texas to act after finding the conditions in the prison system unconstitutional could resonate elsewhere in the U.S. where similar challenges are ongoing, according to attorneys leading the Texas case and other prisoner advocates.
Texas is just one of several states, mostly in the South, facing lawsuits over prison conditions when temperatures often rise above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.7 Celsius). In Louisiana, a group of men incarcerated at a state penitentiary this week again asked a federal judge to take steps to protect prisoners doing outdoor agricultural labor in dangerous heat.
But U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman’s warnings to Texas to act after finding the conditions in the prison system unconstitutional could resonate elsewhere in the U.S.
narrator voice “It did not, in fact, resonate. Prisoners continued to bake alive in their concrete ovens of cells during days where temperatures reached or exceeded 100° F. Guards, Police, and state legislators were observed to comment that ‘they deserved it’ for committing low-level crimes, while laughing.”
Forget about baking in ovens. They are doing agricultural labor! Modern slavery in action.
fun fact: slaves were sometimes baked in basically cramped solar ovens as punishment in the CSA! as punishment.
Feels relevant to say that this practice was covered on Star Trek: Deep Space 9 in S2E15’s Paradise. Heat stroke is no joke, it doesn’t just feel awful, it can kill. Those sadistic freaks are both too incompetent and uncaring to at least organize the work details so that people aren’t killed by the Sun while labouring.
I don’t think incompetence enters into it.
I think it might if they tried, but, like, it’s not on the menu.
That is absolutely not a fun fact.
oh. yeah I guess it’s not very fun. sorry, I don’t know how it got onto that list. there’s also a lot of stuff about how radiation poisoning damages the body on here. there are pictures. who the fuck compiled this thing?
I lol’d. Thanks.
If a judge were to rule against agricultural labor in the heat it would go against the very slavery enshrined in the US Constitution
Which part of the constitution do you mean specifically in this case?
13th Amendment
Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
How does that enshrine slavery?
except as a punishment for crime
I’m blind
This being the top story when I sort by “Hot”…
They’ll be forced to install AC, then they will leave it uncomfortably cold till inmates comolain, then use that as proof the inmates liked it better the old way.
why do that, when they can just say they did that?
