Published Sunday, July 05, 2009 12:08 AM
Few Texas prisons with AC
Associated Press
RIVERSIDE -- Only 19 of 112 Texas state prisons are air-conditioned, leaving most of the state's 155,000 prisoners and those who guard them to face the summer heat with fans and primitive air-circulating systems.
In Texas, the summer heat index can top 100 degrees. Prison officials say the 19 air-conditioned prisons are generally reserved for the sick and mentally ill.
So far this year, nine inmates and seven prison employees have suffered heat-related illnesses.
Prison officials have established hot-weather procedures that go into effect when the heat index reaches 90 degrees. Work crew inmates are given longer breaks and more water while they begin shifts earlier and finish when the sun is hottest.
Temperatures are monitored hourly, said warden Eileen Kennedy at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice's Ellis Unit. The Ellis Unit is located between Riverside and Huntsville. She said both prisoners and guards are schooled in the signs of heat-induced illness.
"It's a lot of common sense," Kennedy said of Ellis' heat-abatement policies.
Up to 15,000 miniature electric fans are sold systemwide each year. The fans cost $22 each at the prison commissary, and "loaners" are provided to inmates deemed indigent. Hallways, day rooms and dormitory units are equipped with fans.
Some prisoners have gotten creative. Roel Zuniga, 30, who is serving 12 years for aggravated assault, fills the holes in his bunk frame with water to cool off.
State Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, said the heat is "part of the reality of going to prison."
"There are a lot of inconveniences of serving time. There's no question it's hot," the Houston Democrat told the Houston Chronicle. "But it's a matter of prioritizing resources."
Many Texans, he said, would be less than sympathetic to prisoners' heat concerns. Even if Texans were sympathetic, he said, retrofitting prisons for air conditioning is too expensive.
Prisons in such hot states as Louisiana and Florida are also without air conditioning.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas said heat cases have come to the court only when prison officials have known of and ignored perilous conditions for prisoners.
"It's useless to be crying about this," said Kevin Kreyssig, 34, who's serving a 40-year Gregg County murder sentence. "We're the ones who put ourselves in prison."
Comments
29 comment(s) found!
Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 5:10 PM
Comment Title:
Another one with reading comprehension problems. What on earth did your parent(s) teach you? Did the Eagle delete a comment expressing anger?
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Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 4:36 PM
Comment Title:
Bryan HUD housings units do have A/C. I not sure about all the run down Bryan trailer parks. So why are you people in Bryan mad? Do you plan to return to TDCJ?
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Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 4:31 PM
Comment Title:
I do believe the first to speak of a city was someone from outside Bryan. Does he/she feel safer? Does the hillbilly county boy feel safer?
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Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 12:51 AM
Comment Title:
Product of Bryan and BISD talking about crime in a diffrent place does not make you safer in Bryan.
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Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 12:50 AM
Comment Title:
TDCJ Is a good place for Bryan gangbangers.
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Posted by:
On:
Tuesday, July 07, 2009 12:34 AM
Comment Title:
Why can't you post comments about the article and not about each other's town. Both have crime and both need to grow up. Bryan had drugs, so does CS, Bryan has crooks and swindlers, so does CS, Bryan has shootings, and CS has drunks killing people. Where is the difference. If there was no crime in CS, why do they have police and why is there a jail. And not all people arrested in CS are from Bryan, remember, you have all the drunk Aggies; the girl that killed a person in the parking garage. That was a crime of alcohol, man on ecstasy, and so on. So wake up and look around people ALL towns have there fair share of problems. You see even State Rep. Fred Brown lives in College Station. Go look up his background. College Station has the white & blue collar criminals while Bryan has your wanna be criminals.
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Posted by:
BHS '60 On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 11:09 PM
Comment Title:
Speaking for myself, thanks for the compliment Rocky.
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Posted by:
Rocky Patel Brazos County On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 9:59 PM
Comment Title:
Two products of Bryan and BISD below.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 9:09 PM
Comment Title:
Apparently your Mama also failed to teach you how to comprehend what you read. What did your Mama do, other than calve?
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 7:55 PM
Comment Title:
"Insolence is no way to address your superiors?"---I agree. Bryan gangbangers do not need to be proving how they are superior at Crime.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 6:25 PM
Comment Title: Do the crime you do the time
Woops...you know what I mean.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 6:24 PM
Comment Title: You do the time....
You do the time you do the crime and hope that you get sent to someplace that does have A/C. If not there is that place in Arizona that has their prisoners live in tents and I bet it is hotter in Arizona then here and it is HOT Here.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 3:35 PM
Comment Title: Re: You sound like a Bryan TDCJ thug. You are a credit to Bryan I bet.
Didn't your Mama teach you better? Insolence is no way to address your superiors?
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 2:26 PM
Comment Title:
You sound like a Bryan TDCJ thug. You are a credit to Bryan I bet.
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 2:07 PM
Comment Title: I, Gangland/Thug City/Keeping it real response
Wow! Did I miss something? Where in the article did it mention Bryan, Texas? Only reference to an inmate was in Gregg County and last time I looked, Bryan was in Brazos County. Grow up!!!!!!!!!!! Bryan DOES NOT have all the criminals in Texas living there. College Station has more than a fair share of them. Just look at the CS man who is 18 and jailed on Ecstasy charges. I'm sick of College Station snobs.
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Posted by:
Loser Police On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 1:52 PM
Comment Title:
They don't need AC in prison! It's not supposed to be a luxury hotel!
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Posted by:
tb On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 11:22 AM
Comment Title: check out time
Just pass out a rope or noose for each one ...just in case they would like to check out early!
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Posted by:
Robin On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 11:15 AM
Comment Title: How WONDERFUL!
That is great ...now get rid of the other 19 with air conditioning! They should think about that before committing crime and get out and WORK for a living not thieving, drugs, prostitution, murder and anything else they do that is against the law!
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Posted by:
On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 1:01 AM
Comment Title:
Could it (whatever IT is) belong to the residents of South College Station, particularly Southgate Village Apts. and Windsor Pointe Apts? Of course, it might belong to that scum living on the "state" streets of College Station.
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Posted by:
Keeping it real!!!!! On:
Monday, July 06, 2009 12:02 AM
Comment Title:
I bet it Belongs to the Low life's in The HUD complexes of Bryan.
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Posted by:
To the MORON below On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:57 PM
Comment Title:
Do not do crime if you can not do the time. Does this wise and original saying apply to any prisoners other than Bryan Gangbangers?
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Posted by:
Gangland/Thug city On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 11:36 PM
Comment Title:
If these Bryan gangbangers stop using drugs and worked they could have A/C. Do not do crime if you can not do the time.
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Posted by:
l. On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 10:57 PM
Comment Title: What? No A/C!
"Well shazaam", cry me a river! There are a lot of elderly, and infant to small children, who do not have any a/c either......want to help? those are the ones to think about, not someone in prison!!! They asked for what they got....the little ones were just unlucky enough to be born into it.....poverty, that is.
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 10:27 PM
Comment Title: a real sentence
A prisoner who does not want to deal with the heat and prison life, should make sure to commit a crime that gets them the death penalty....that would take care of a lot of ills of the prison system.....I wouldn't be surprised to learn it costs the taxpaying citizens more to handle the prisoners, (from arrest to courtroom, to prison, than it costs to educate our children in public school....now there is something to worry over, if you happen to be the worrying sort. I have no compassion whatsoever for someone in prison who has violated another person, in any shape or form. If they are so stupid they don't know the consequences of their crimes then nothing I can say or do would be useful to them.
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Posted by:
Sam-Huntsville On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 5:28 PM
Comment Title:
Just because they have A/C in a Bryan Hud house is no reason for them to have it at TDCJ.
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Posted by:
MCB On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 5:17 PM
Comment Title: boo hoo
I don't have any air conditioner either. Have lived in Brazos County for 24 years and have never had it. Didn't have it in Shreveport before I moved here. Use a fan, be wise about staying hydrated and working hard during the hottest part of the day; just as the story says the prison officials are trying to do. Over-reliance on AC is making people incapable of surviving under even the mildest conditions of heat, which to me is very sad. The Europeans who settled this part of Texas wore wool clothes for heavens sake!!
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Posted by:
On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 3:04 PM
Comment Title: To Joel
Sooner or later 1/2 the population will be in prison just like Hitler did with the jews. The US has more prisoners than any other country in the world. When you or someone you care about, ends up in prison then you will think differently.
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Posted by:
Joel On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 1:31 PM
Comment Title: Oh
This just breaks my heart. These people having to suffer "inhumane" conditions. Oh wait, didn't their victims suffer inhumane conditions? Sucks to be you, but I don't care!
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Posted by:
Gail On:
Sunday, July 05, 2009 3:40 AM
Comment Title: Inhumane
Senator Whitmire may end up in prison one day. He should is good at casting the first stone. Shame on him and to the federal government for allowing this inhumane act. The heat is too much to bear in Texas.
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