Florida's death row inmates say they can't take the heat
Posted on 08/10/2002 4:30:06 PM PDT by MeekOneGOP
Florida's death row inmates say they can't take the heat
Suit alleges cruel and unusual punishment in cells with no fans, A/C
08/11/2002
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - Florida death row inmates say temperatures that routinely top 100 degrees in their cells force them to stand in toilets, drape themselves in wet towels and sleep naked on concrete floors.
Those allegations are at the heart of a class-action lawsuit that claims the heat inside Union Correctional Institution near Raiford is cruel and unusual punishment and could lead to mental and physical illness and even death.
U.S. District Judge Ralph W. Nimmons, who has toured the prison 45 miles southwest of Jacksonville and interviewed some of the 300 inmates, is expected to rule later this year.
By the time the lawsuit is decided, the inmates will have endured three summers of what their attorneys claim is a "dungeon-like atmosphere" since the case was filed in 2000.
"We want them to bring the temperatures down," said Randall Berg, a Miami attorney representing the inmates.
But lawyers with Florida's attorney general's office said the heat conditions are not severe enough to violate the Constitution.
"I consider this a borderline frivolous lawsuit," said Caryl Killinski, who represents the state in the case. "It gets warm in any building not air-conditioned."
Mr. Berg said the heat is especially oppressive for older and obese inmates and those with physical and mental problems.
"Subjecting inmates, who are confined in their cells nearly all the time, to temperatures almost always in excess of 90 degrees, frequently in excess of 100 degrees, and as high as 110 degrees, can only be called physically barbarous," the lawsuit alleges.
But Ms. Killinski disagreed.
"Since 1992 ... there has not been one single case of an inmate suffering from a heat-related illness," she said in a telephone interview.
Court documents show 30 prisoners sought medical treatment from June through September 2000 and 18 for the same period in 2001 for symptoms of faintness, nausea, headache, apprehension, dizziness, irritability, weakness, unsteady gait, or excessive thirst and hunger.
"It's just a matter of time before someone dies," Mr. Berg said.
The 1999 annual report of the Florida Corrections Commission said elderly inmates need more heat in the winter and air conditioning in the summer.
Florida's death row population is aging. Of the 329 death-sentenced prisoners on Jan. 22, 107 were 45 or older and six were older than 65. More than a third of the prisoners, 129, were obese and 86 had skin disorders, according to court documents.
Sterling Ivey, a spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said he could not comment on matters in litigation.
The lawsuit, originally filed by condemned inmates Jim E. Chandler and William Kelley, also alleges three recent changes in policy and procedures have worsened the temperature problem. Inmates are no longer allowed to hang air deflectors on the vents in their cells, screening has been installed over the cell bars and air handlers have been turned off.
While installing fans has been discussed, Ms. Killinski said, the electrical system at Union Correctional Institution could not support 300 individual fans.
"If they want air conditioned prisons, they should go to the Legislature and not to federal court," she said
Only six of the 52 major prisons in Florida have air conditioning in most of the inmate housing units.
"I consider this a borderline frivolous lawsuit," said Caryl Killinski, who
represents the state in the case. "It gets warm in any building not air-
conditioned."
Maybe Governor Jeb Bush can put them out of their misery and sign an
executive order that complainers can have their execution dates moved up?....
Aha. A death row that works as advertised. And it gives taxpayers a break. Gotta like that.
Let's hope that all 329 of these death row inmates die---sooner rather than later.
Raise the taxes on attorney fees for death row appeals
"The linens are an utter disgrace. The salad forks are never chilled, and the escargot was rubbery. Rubbery! Why, a galley chief at McDonald's could serve better seafood than this place," lamented Animal, convicted and sentenced to death for the 1982 ritual sadistic slaying of a troop of blind Cub Scouts on a canoing trip.
Well, I hope the hell so!
They did say death row, did they not?
There shouldn't be any obese inmates. They should be working so hard all day long that they do not have the opportunity to eat more than the bare minimum calories required to sustain a human being.
"Subjecting inmates, who are confined in their cells nearly all the time, to temperatures almost always in excess of 90 degrees, frequently in excess of 100 degrees, and as high as 110 degrees, can only be called physically barbarous," the lawsuit alleges.
Oh yeah? Well the government has no problem sending American troops into these temperatures. I'm fighting fires on active duty right now in temperatures in excess of 100 degrees.
Court documents show 30 prisoners sought medical treatment from June through September 2000 and 18 for the same period in 2001 for symptoms of faintness, nausea, headache, apprehension, dizziness, irritability, weakness, unsteady gait, or excessive thirst and hunger.
If there were no documented cases of heat exhaustion or heat stroke then there is NO PROBLEM. Get them back to work!
Just to set the record straight, a dungeon-like atmosphere would mean to me 50 degree (F) temperatures. That's the temp you'd expect undergound, with thick granite walls around you.
Now, if they complained about an equator-like atmosphere, or a death-valley-like atmostphere, then that would be a different story...
You committed a crime, boy. Now it's time for you to do the time.
I'm all for bringing back the "Chain Gangs".
Oh, yea - stop that voting thing, too!
LVM
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