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.
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.)