On June 10, three inmates on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary (Angola) filed a law­suit in fed­er­al court against the Department of Public Safety and Corrections for ​“appalling and extreme con­di­tions… as a result of extreme heat.” The inmates request­ed that jail offi­cials address the unsafe con­di­tions in the death row facil­i­ty. According to the law­suit, the con­di­tions pris­on­ers suf­fer each sum­mer con­sti­tute cru­el and unusu­al pun­ish­ment under the Eighth Amendment. The heat index on death row reached 195 degrees Fahrenheit on sev­er­al occa­sions dur­ing the sum­mer of 2011, and was above 126 degrees on 85 days between May and August. The law­suit describes cell bars that are hot to the touch and inmates sleep­ing on con­crete floor because it is slight­ly cool­er than beds. During sum­mer months, the show­ers pro­vide no relief as the water tem­per­a­ture some­times exceeds 115 degrees. Nilay Vora, a lawyer involved in the case, said, ​“We don’t expect pris­ons to be com­fort­able, but any­one who looked at these num­bers or heard about the con­di­tions would find them shock­ing, beyond what’s conscionable.”

(L. McGaughy, ​“Death row inmates sue Angola Prison over ​‘extreme’ tem­per­a­tures,” Times Picayune, June 10, 2013). See Death Row. Photo from Flckr by msppmoore.

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