Texas prison officials to begin 1,000 inmate transfers to facilities with a/c Heat-sensitive inmates to be relocated following federal court order

The Texas prison system is proposing moving 1,000 inmates to facilities with air conditioning in response to a federal court order. The Texas prison system is proposing moving 1,000 inmates to facilities with air conditioning in response to a federal court order. Photo: Rose Baca, MBR Photo: Rose Baca, MBR Image 1 of / 75 Caption Close Texas prison officials to begin 1,000 inmate transfers to facilities with a/c 1 / 75 Back to Gallery

More than 1,000 heat-sensitive prison inmates will begin transferring before dawn Wednesday to air-conditioned facilities across the state following a federal judge's order to shield them from dangerously hot conditions at the Wallace Pack Unit northwest of Houston.

Air-conditioned buses will shuttle the inmates starting about 4 a.m. from the Navasota facility to 11 other prisons with air-conditioning, prison officials said.

All transfers must be completed within three weeks, U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison ruled Tuesday.

Lawyers for the inmates urged Ellison to expedite the transfers given the extreme weather conditions, but the judge said the Texas Department of Criminal Justice deserved some leeway in bringing about the complex resettlement operation.

"This is a massive move of humanity we're talking about," Ellison said Tuesday in Houston federal court.

The minimum-security Pack facility — which houses more than 1,400 inmates, many of whom are elderly, mobility impaired or have health problems — was abuzz late Tuesday about the impending transfers, said Shanda Carter, whose 39-year-old husband is at the facility.

Many inmates had not been told whether they were staying or going, but all had been told to pack their things and move to the air-conditioned gymnasium, she said.

Inmates displaced by the transfers will move to state prisons that are not air-conditioned, officials said. But the transfers are temporary — the state plans to return the Pack inmates to the Navasota site once the hot weather subsides.

"The court's assumption that there are significant safety, security and health issues is a good one," said Craig Warner, one of the lawyers representing TDCJ. "It's not a process that can be accomplished in a couple of days but it can start immediately ... The court has determined that all of those people have vulnerabilities that have to be addressed."

A group of Pack inmates filed a federal civil rights lawsuit in 2014, accusing the state of violating their constitutional rights against cruel and unusual punishment and the Americans with Disabilities Act after a series of heat-related deaths at prison facilities across the state.

In July, Ellison issued a temporary injunction ordering the state find cooler living quarters for hundreds of inmates at the Pack Unit who take medication or have health conditions such as hypertension and diabetes that make them vulnerable to heat.

The judge found the state impeded remedies and showed "deliberate indifference" to the dangers inmates faced.

The suit has drawn national attention and is being closely watched by prison advocates. More than 30,000 inmates in Texas have been designated as sensitive to "extreme temperature" because of age, health conditions or medicines they take, according to state documents obtained by the Chronicle through the state open records law. Some of the inmates are already at air-conditioned facilities, officials said.

Breaking down heat deaths in Texas prisons Twenty-two people have died in Texas prisons from hyperthermia, or elevated body temperature, from heat exposure since 1998. Source: Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Created by Data Journalist Rachael Gleason | Houston Chronicle

In federal court Tuesday, TDCJ officials outlined for Ellison their plans for the transfers and adjustments to the heat wave policy. Officials agreed to continue talks with the inmates' lawyers to fine tune their plan to address weather emergencies, including awareness training for inmates and improved 24-hour access to respite areas during heat waves.

Jeff Edwards, an attorney for the inmates, said the struggle is just beginning against TDCJ policies.

"This case is not over and our case does not only concern the most vulnerable in TDCJ it also concerns everyone in TDCJ because at some point it's our hope that the agency will join the 21st century," he said. "It's not only the inmates who are at risk. The officers are at significant risk."

Warner, the TDCJ attorney, said officials had been working around the clock to prepare for the transfers to prisons and jails around the state.

As of Tuesday, the plan called for transferring 562 inmates to the Travis State Jail in Austin, 291 to the Diboll Correctional Center near Lufkin and 122 to the Mark W. Stiles Unit in Beaumont, which can accommodate CPAP machines and other specialized medical devices.

Seven inmates who will be moved to Rufus H. Duncan Geriatric Facility and one inmate will be moved to the Estelle Unit for cancer treatment, officials said.

Arrangements have also been made for a few dozen inmates in wheelchairs to be taken to facilities that can accommodate their needs, including 23 who will be moved to the Holliday Transfer Facility in Huntsville, 10 to Richard P. LeBlanc Unit in Beaumont, eight to the UTMB Hospital in Galveston, six to the John Montford Unit in Lubbock, four to the French Robertson Unit in Abilene and three to William P. Clements Unit in Amarillo.

To make room for the Pack inmates, the state will transfer hundreds of inmates out of the air-conditioned facilities to the Connally Unit near Victoria, Dalhart Unit north of Amarillo and the Smith Unit south of Lubbock, according to court documents.

The judge gave the attorneys 10 days to work out the details of the respite, training and heat wave program.

TDCJ stated in court filings that 23 inmates have died from heat stroke since 1998, although Ellison noted in his July ruling that heat deaths are often under-reported.

The Pack inmates' lawsuit is among 10 federal complaints filed in Ellison's court by attorneys from Edwards Law in Austin and the Texas Civil Rights Project. Eight families of inmates who died of heatstroke are pursuing wrongful death suits, and another inmate who survived a heat stroke has also sued TDCJ.

Statewide, 17 lawsuits have been filed against TDCJ officials in various federal jurisdictions regarding heat conditions, according to documents provided by TDCJ. The family of a 36-year-old inmate, who died after an asthma attack during a heat wave, sued in Houston last week.

Gabrielle Banks covers federal courts for the Houston Chronicle. Follow her on Twitter @GabMoBanks or send tips to gabrielle.banks@chron.com.