Thread

Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by the end of 2029

120 points · 202 comments · bonefishgrill

zamadatix · 1790269744 · focus · HN ↗
Director Lumpkin should be criminally responsible for these conditions and deaths he has been indifferent to.
1. 0xDEAFBEAD · 1790270553 · focus · HN ↗
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  1. anigbrowl · 1790271850 · focus · HN ↗
    Nobody in Europe is being forbidden access to heat mitigation with force. Spare us this obvious conservative propaganda.
    0xDEAFBEAD · 1790273441 · focus · HN ↗
    We have a situation where about ~1000x as many people are dying in Europe as in Texas prisons. For ideological reasons, people prefer to focus on the Texas prison deaths. I'd call that propaganda.
    Imagine a working-class European who needs to work in a building without A/C, and live in an apartment without A/C. The landlord/owners' association/municipality is de facto blocking A/C installation. How, exactly, is the situation so different?
    Tens of thousands of Europeans are dying. But at least they are "voluntary" deaths--if you use the word "voluntary" sufficiently creatively.
    European prisons aren't so great either. There is little evidence they have more A/C than Texas prisons: <a href="https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-08-07/heatwaves-expose-overcrowding-crisis-in-europes-ageing-prisons" rel="nofollow">https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-08-07/heatwa...
    BobaFloutist · 1790291732 · focus · HN ↗
    >We have a situation where about ~1000x as many people are dying in Europe as in Texas prisons.
    Right, because Europe has much higher population than Texas prisons. In fact, many more people are dying by heat exhaustion in Texas prisons per capita than in Europe.
    0xDEAFBEAD · 1790340250 · focus · HN ↗
    Another way of looking at is that the US generally has good A/C access except for a few niches like the Texas prison system. Europe has broadly poor A/C access. In that sense, the European A/C shortfall could meaningfully be described as 1000x as bad.
    >In fact, many more people are dying by heat exhaustion in Texas prisons per capita than in Europe.
    Based on a quick Google, Europe's population is on the order of 1000x the population of the Texas prison system. Deaths are probably at least somewhat higher per capita in the Texas prison system, but there are also probably subgroups in Europe that have it even worse.

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