At the height of this week's freeze in Texas, the coldest room at Ft. Worth's juvenile jail stood at just 27 degrees Fahrenheit. The 103 inmates there were already short of blankets, and the power, heat, and water were out. Out for THREE DAYS, from Sunday through Thursday. Monday's high temperature outdoors was 12 degrees.
A local couple heard about the kids' plight and bought enough blankets for all of them. Officials refused the donation. They cited safety factors with "unapproved" blankets. (They were more dangerous to the kids than having no heat in subfreezing weather?!) The jail itself wouldn't buy more blankets.
It happened not only to these children, but to inmates in virtually all the 106 prisons in Texas. The 370 people incarcerated in Victoria County jail, an hour from Houston, had three days without water. Officials gave each four bottles of water a day. It wasn't enough to make the toilets flush.
In Harris County Jail, Houston, 9,000 inmates dealt with intermittent power from generators. "For the first three days, we basically just tried to stay in place, and stay in bed to stay warm." said one inmate, who noted that at one point, the water was off for 24 hours.
"It's like we're not even human," he said.
We have no doubt the prisoners are fully human. But a correctional system that let inmates, including kids, suffer for days doesn't seem to be very human at all.
Of course, un-incarcerated people in Texas were also suffering from the cold. But (we hope) they had access to extra clothes, blankets, hugs from loved ones, and other sources of warmth. The un-incarcerated people can also go outside to get snow, which is water-like, and perhaps get groceries.
We understand prisoners are incarcerated for punishment, but we still care about their basic human rights.
Should the children have been given the blankets? What should prisons do when power outages and other disasters strike? Should prisons be required to have backups for their gasoline-powered generators?
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-power-outage-jails-prisons-winter-storm/?fbclid=IwAR3vWYdFDTuHRF-J7nCH0v4znNZSFZsaPDjJb9HUyu9gxrgyfRFziMyXrqU
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