GATESVILLE, Texas (KXXV — “When you sit in your car and close the door for those few seconds before you turn the ignition on, and you just feel this heavy, oppressive heat, that is the kind of heat we're talking about,” Marci Simmons said.
Marci Simmons is one of several, who was previously incarcerated in a Central Texas prison without air conditioning.
She testified in a multi-day preliminary injunction in Austin.
It is part of a much bigger lawsuit against the state, asking the federal court to make the state prisons follow the same climate control standards as state jails. It falls between 65 and 85 degrees.
While that trial can last for years, this preliminary injunction asked the judge to lower temperatures inside the prisons now, while the lawsuit is settled.
Simmons says it can’t wait.
“People are quite literally losing their lives,” Simmons said.
“Autopsies were presented where people's core body temperature at their time of death was 109 degrees – one was 107 degrees.”
Autopsies were just a piece of the evidence they presented in the case.
Simmons said they called on several experts. One said 14 lives are lost each year due to lack of air conditioning during heat waves.
Others on the stand explained the impact it has on health.
Many previously incarcerated inmates, like Simmons, shared their stories of their time in prison.
Meanwhile, the state called on staff from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to present their case.
Simmons said they also testified that the measures the state has in place were sufficient, but she does not agree.
“We know it's not it's not effective, because there we still have people getting sick and dying. If it was effective, we wouldn't have people still suffering,” Simmons said.
Simmons said many people push back and want to dismiss that suffering, with some of the feedback saying prison is not meant to be comfortable.
She said it’s not that simple.
“I think I would just ask people to understand that this isn't about a level of comfort. We're not talking about hot. We are talking about dangerously hot – deadly hot,” Simmons said.
25 news did reach out to the TDCJ for an interview or comment, but was told they don't comment on pending litigation.
Meanwhile, Simmons said the state did try to dismiss the case, but the federal judge insisted it be heard.
They expect a verdict from the judge in the coming weeks.
