Texas inmates soaking bedsheets in toilet water to cool off in unairconditioned prisons
Texas inmates soaking bedsheets in toilet water to cool off in unairconditioned prisons
Last week, Democrats including San Antonio-Austin Congressman Greg Casar called on lawmakers to open an investigation into prison conditions in Texas.
At least 41 people have died in the Lone Star State's unairconditioned prisons due to heat-related or unknown conditions this summer, according to the Texas Tribune.
Even so, it's hard to firmly establish how many have succumbed to heat-related illness, according to observers. That's because TDCJ's official stance is that no inmates have died of heat exhaustion since 2012 — the same year the agency began to be bombarded with wrongful death lawsuits from inmates' families, the Tribune reports.
41 people have died
That’s 41 too many. Jesus fucking Christ, America.
Wow! That's going to save the state of Texas so much money! It's expensive to house people against their will for enjoying forbidden plants in their own homes. 🙄
what? naw, they have to meet the quota, they’ll just arrest some other poors
41 victims of negligent homicide at the hands of the state.
Forty. Freaking. One. Why has this country not been in an uproar since the first one? Why did we wait until this many? This is the first I've heard about it. Doesn't surprise me at all, but I had no idea this was happening.
Forty one!!
What is with all the Chuds signing up on Lemmy.world?
If you think this is on accident, then you don't understand Texas #fascism.
I love that someone always downvotes the GOP being called out as fascist but will never argue the point.
They're absolutely fascists. Their enemies are the same as the Nazis: sexual, ethnic, and religious minorities & leftists. They want to dominate an oppressive monoculture that harkens back to a fictional past. Anyone denying that they're fascists either doesn't understand what that means or is lying.
I love that someone always downvotes the GOP being called out as fascist but will never argue the point.
Great thing about Kbin is you can see who that is. Just going to say I see one or two names fairly regularly.
Edit: LOL, unsurprisingly the same guy upvoted this comment from HazDaz.
Indeed. Also ultra nationalism, religiosity, authoritarianism, ...
Our society is diseased.
I agree with you and have studied this from my role as an intelligence official and former interrogator. The lawyer who prosecuted the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials stated that the real problem wasn't the evil but the apathy of the masses that allowed a few evil people to do big evil things.
The fact of the matter is that human reactions to certain information are well known from our centuries of study of propaganda and marketing and psychology. At this point it is easy for the government to manipulate messaging so that the people are misled enough to allow evil.
It is the simple stuff and even smart people are influenced by it over time. It is a well studied phenomenon. No one is immune. For example, Trump saying that he has the most transparent government ever while specifically taking away rights and doing things in secret.
The propaganda tool has been efficient for our governments, especially since the advent of the internet. Also, keep in mind that roughly half of the population has a two-digit IQ. Some people will never admit that they are dumb and therefore will never admit that they have been deceived.
The fact that US citizens are scared to stand up to their government because the government police will abuse them shows where we are as a society. We are deeply fascist and the illusion of democracy hasn't been functioning in Congress for quite a while. The illusion of the checks and balances has worn thin as well.
So I agree with you. Our society is diseased. But it's not necessarily the faults of the individuals.
Texas prisons have been considered a human rights violation by many legal bodies around the world.
Scottish Judge Refuses to Extradite to Texas
Heat Deaths in Texas Prisons, 2007 - 2014
U.N. Recommendations for the U.S. Prison System to Become Ethical
Like with most things under republican control, suffering is the point. They like it when people they don't like suffers and they will pay money to see it happen. In this case they cause the suffering AND they save money so there is no way it's getting fixed while Texas is red.
Texas can't even provide proper climate control to their regular unincarcerated citizens. The prisons never had a chance.
There’s a difference there. You can justify it under capitalism that unincarcerated people have access to air conditioning if they choose to prioritize it and work for it. Choice is one of the things denied to prisoners. It’s why they theoretically get access to medical care.
Texans don't seem to care about hard-working people getting heat-exhaustion to begin with, let alone prisoners.
As a Texan, I do.
Also as a Texan, I'm looking at more socialist countries to move to.
We're not all bad, some of us are just stuck.
Honestly, you'll do a hell of a lot more good staying and helping Texas turn purple. I've thought a few times about leaving the states, but last election I got to help my whole state flip blue. It's hard, because the assholes will never stop fighting to turn America into a shithole, and so the fight to turn it into something better is never over. But America isn't unique in that aspect.
have you considered the EU? here's some routes for you:
if you are degree qualified, then look into getting an EU blue card. it's the EU's answer to the green card, and it's probably the best way for anyone who's got the chops. it gives you a near free pick at where you specifically end up. try this page to get a feel of eligible locations, some of the locations need big boy salary, so might be off-limits
do you have any grandparents (or great-grandparents) that are from europe? some countries offer citizenship through descent. if you can prove the descent, then you can register as a citizen. 100% worth checking this. it's a long shot, with a huge payout if it's valid. common ones you can check are italy, ireland, hungary, germany (maybe?)
third option for you - "digital nomad" visas are a thing that's growing. you pick up a remote job for one EU state, and then you can get a visa to live in... a different EU state!? you pay the taxes to the state that is giving you the remote job, and you live in the state that provides the visa. the idea being, where does it even matter where you work, if it's a remote job? so long as your dues are paid, you can go wild! some digital nomad visas even let you bring family along. not all EU states offer this, you would have to do individual research.
if you are serious about moving somewhere, genuinely serious, then take actionable steps to do it, today. i am a couple years down the path of taking steps to move myself. i don't know how old you are, but you don't want to look back and think "i could have took measurable steps when i was younger to get out of here, and i didn't". wherever your chosen destination, make it your mission. keep your eyes on the prize.
and lastly, if it doesn't work out, oh well? at least you tried! you will have gained life experience some americans would dream to get, and you should be able to move back simply. you can't shake US citizenship that easily ;)
This isn't a human rights violation?
Welcome to Texas, son.
Human rights violation?! THIS! IS! TEXAS!
Wait, is "unairconditioned" actually a word?
There is no rule dictating what is and what isn't a word.
Language is an ever changing object.
Was an idea communicated by expressing the sound? It's a word.
You didn't do this, but some people so firmly cling to the idea of rules (which as we have covered, do not exist) that they will feign ignorance at the introduction of an unfamiliar presentation. I find it odd.
This could lead into a topic about how everything around us, society similarly, has no rules. It's just a collection of ideas stacked haphazardly, any of it can be changed by any one of us. But I will stop there.
Well said.
It is super important to communicate to people that it is not normal for prisoners to be struggling in the heat like this.
Tough shit, it's prison.
EDIT: LOL You people are all clowns. No wonder America doesn't take you people seriously. Imagine defending rapists and murders.
Not for nothin, but...The Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” So since you can die fron heat exhaustion, it probably is a cruel and unusual punishment.
No no no, you're wrong! See, it says "cruel AND unusual" and since death is a common result from overheating, it is not unusual and therefore can't be "cruel AND unusual" thus doesn't violate the eighth amendment!
(Yes, some of them believe this unironically.)
But if they were supposed to die there, then they would have been sentenced to death by heat exhaustion. Which I'm pretty sure would be considered cruel and unusual.
I don't think it's fair to just tack on additional punishment after sentencing.
Some of them are wrongly convicted, all of them are human beings under the states care. Should those under state care be subjected to cruel and unusual, extrajudicial punishment up to and including death by heat exhaustion?
The end of reddit days I began realizing it's very easy to block people like you.
Bye!
Brain dead opinion.
"You were caught with weed, so if you die in prison of heat stroke, you really kind of deserved it"
Prison is meant to rehabilitate, not punish. If you're punishing, you're not helping society. If you just care about causing pain, what value add is that?
Unfortunately, her in texas, unless you bow to the dictatorship (GOP) you are not allowed to be rehabilitated. Unless you think sitting in a pod of 24+ other prisoners in a space that might be comfortable for 4 people as a home, is rehabilitation.
Texas doesn’t care about anything but $$ to the point they will cut their nose off to spite their face. This state is so contradictory to human rights
Schadenfreude is the point, I guess
What the fuck do you know about prison, son?
And for the falsely imprisoned? Kinda a shit way to go.
Imagine trying to take the moral high ground after stroking it to prison torture.
Conservatism is a cancer on society.
Edit: it should be noted that the OP of this thread got removed, so Lemmy dropped these angry comments onto another user's thread.
Oh, that makes a lot more sense because the comment I see these replies attached to is both fairly innocuous and entirely unrelated to what the responses are talking about. I thought they had just edited the original comment.
Kbin doesn't do that. Just says deleted by moderator.
Why people think America is full of primitive cavemen.
Haha, so edgy, much outrage.
It may be prison, but those inmates are still human.
Even death row inmates get to die in less cruel ways than being effectively boiled alive.
Their punishment was their isolation from society and its luxuries, any further suffering purposefully/neglectfully introduced by the prison is cruel and unnecessary.
You are a terrible person.
Do you think only rapists and murderers go to prison you empty headed creep? Cool your bloodlust and try to value human dignity.
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out— Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Deplorables
It wasn't a compliment but you lean into anyway.
Imagine defending rapists and murders.
Not a single one of the replies to your comment could be accurately described this way.
Imagine thinking people stop being entitled to basic decency just because they are in prison. For that matter, imagine thinking no one but rapists and murderers goes to prison.