Updated 5:10 p.m. July 25 to include information about two additional people treated this week for heat-related illnesses.

Mindy Thibeaux's godson is young and strong, she said. He's only 25, after all, and has always been optimistic.

But extreme temperatures at the state jail where he's serving time on drug charges have tested that resolve. It's hot at the Hutchins Unit, just a 15-minute drive from downtown Dallas. Like the majority of Texas jails and prisons, there's no air conditioning where the inmates sleep, and Thibeaux said her godson says the ventilation is bad and the windows in his dorm won't open.

So when temperatures hit 109 degrees in Dallas over the weekend, she worried not only about his health, but also the well-being of the 2,000 or so men incarcerated with him.

"I can't believe he's holding himself together as well as he is, but he's wilting. He's covered in heat rash," Thibeaux told The Dallas Morning News on Monday. "There's no hope of cooling down. If anyone did that to an animal, they'd be in prison.

"He's basically being cooked alive."

'Every possible precaution'

The News spoke to more than a half-dozen family members with loved ones in Texas prisons and jails who worry these inmates could fall ill, or even lose their life, from the extreme heat. They pointed first to the record highs set this weekend, and then to the nearly two dozen prisoner deaths between 1998 and 2012.

One of these fatalities was a Hutchins inmate, a 58-year-old Dallas cabdriver named Larry McCollum who was found convulsing on his bed in July 2011. When he got to the hospital, the Houston Chronicle reported, his body temperature was 109 degrees.

1 / 4Hutchins State Jail is located south of downtown Dallas at 1500 East Langdon Road.(The Dallas Morning News / Richard Michael Pruitt) 2 / 4Inmates from the Hutchins State Jail walk out of a 100 acre grass fire on Malloy Bridge Road near Interstate175. From left are: Roland Esquivel, field boss Roy Storie, Elvin Stephens, and Anthony Spencer. (The Dallas Morning News / Patrick Davison) 3 / 4May 9,2000 Inmates at the Hutchins State Jail play a game of basketball in the recreation yard at the jail. Hutchins State Jail is located south of Dallas at 1500 East Langdon Road.(The Dallas Morning News / Richard Michael Pruitt) 4 / 4Inmates lined up and ready to return to their cells for lunch at Huchins State Jail(The Dallas Morning News / Juan Garcia )

But state prison staff can't recall a heat-related death in a state jail or prison in more than five years. And despite the record temperatures, only four of roughly 172,000 inmates and staff have been treated for heat-related illnesses between Friday and Wednesday afternoon, Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesman Jeremy Desel said.

"We are taking every possible precaution for the health and well-being of our offenders and staff," Desel told The News on Monday. The department has taken steps to protect employees and prisoners alike, he said, including minimizing or eliminating working outside, opening air-conditioned "respite areas" and providing extra water, cooler meals and access to cold showers.

And on Friday, for the first time, the state's "incident command system" kicked into gear. Now, every state-run unit has an extra set of eyes ensuring official "heat protocols" are being implemented, Desel said.

'Not designed for comfort'

But inmates' families said these rules aren't being followed.

"Yes, they have protocols in place, but they're not following the protocols," said Casey Phillips, whose husband, Justin Phillips, is serving time on drug charges at the H.H. Coffield Unit near Palestine. "I got the letter on Saturday and he said it was 120 degrees, it was 7:30 at night and they were just getting their first glass of water."

A few months ago, Phillips, 34, helped create a Facebook group for families members of inmates worried about the high temperatures in Texas jails and prisons. Now, it has nearly 800 members.

"We're trying our best to get our people air," said Yolanda Gage, a member of the group whose husband is also serving time at Hutchins in Dallas. He has heat rash, too, she said, and complains there isn't enough water and the fans don't cool their dorms. "It was extremely hot in there. To be on the phone it's excruciating because there's no fans facing that way."

Of the family members The News spoke with Monday, each said their loved ones detailed similar complaints about high temperatures and a lack of cool water.

Dallas resident Breana Delaney Brown said her cousin, like Phillips' husband, is also struggling in Coffield. A former parole and probation officer, Brown is worried his high blood pressure increases his risk of heat-related illnesses.

"I'm not saying prison should be a cakewalk," Brown said. "But Texas prisons, to me, are a little bit harsh because they can at least give them central air conditioning.

"I just don't want my cousin to die in there."

But prison officials said the decision to install air conditioning in these facilities is up to state lawmakers.

Of the 104 state-run jails and prisons, only 29 have air conditioning in their cellblocks and inmate dorms. This year, the state agreed to install air conditioning at the Wallace Pack Unit in Navasota after inmates sued in 2014. Permanent AC at that unit, however, is "subject to legislative approval."

Sen. John Whitmire, chairman of the Senate Committee on Criminal Justice and Texas' longest-serving lawmaker, said jails and prisons were "not designed for comfort; they're designed for safety."

These facilities are old, and installing cooling systems in each one will be expensive, the Houston Democrat said, but the Pack Unit case will force the Texas Legislature to discuss how to avoid another lawsuit like this in future.

"I'm totally of the opinion they're doing everything they can," Whitmire said of state prison officials. "It's certainly their concern, not only from a health issue but also from a legal standpoint. They don't want to be back in court."

CORRECTION, 8:30 a.m., July 24, 2018: An earlier version of this story incorrectly said Billy Collins Jr. is Casey Phillips' husband and that he is incarcerated for burglary. Her husband is Justin Phillips and he is serving time on drug charges.