Story highlights Inmates at Wallace Pack Unit sue for relief from heatTexas attorney general says sufficient mitigating measures in place(CNN) Texas is famously hot and its prisons are no exception, especially in the summer months. So much so that a federal judge has ordered one prison to cool off for the sake of inmates' health. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has 15 days to come up with a plan to house some 500 "heat-sensitive" inmates at Wallace Pack Unit in living quarters exceeding no more than 88 degrees. The preliminary injunction stems from a lawsuit filed in 2014 seeking cooler temperatures for inmates, citing a spate of deaths in the previous three years. In 2016, the heat index at the unit surpassed 100 degrees on 13 days and hovered around the 90s degrees for 55 days, the ruling notes.

Source: CNN July 20, 2017 02:26 UTC