{"id":80,"date":"2013-06-17T13:26:00","date_gmt":"2013-06-17T13:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/highplainsblogger.wordpress.com\/2013\/06\/17\/ac-in-texas-prisons"},"modified":"2013-06-17T13:26:00","modified_gmt":"2013-06-17T13:26:00","slug":"ac-in-texas-prisons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/?p=80","title":{"rendered":"AC in Texas prisons?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A pair of editorials published by a paper where I used to work debates whether air conditioning units should be installed in Texas prisons.<\/p>\n

The Beaumont Enterprise asks readers to make the call.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.beaumontenterprise.com\/opinions\/editorials\/article\/PRO-CON-VIEW-Should-Texas-prisons-provide-4601603.php<\/a><\/p>\n

Here\u2019s my call: I don\u2019t think Texas prisons need air conditioning.<\/p>\n

My first tour of a Texas maximum-security prison occurred not long after I arrived in Amarillo in early 1995. The then-assistant warden took me on a tour of the lockdown, the William Clements Unit, and that\u2019s where I saw how the inmates lived. The TDCJ tour guide, Rick Hudson, explained to me that the state just didn\u2019t see a compelling need to air-condition its prison units. The Clements Unit is equipped with fans that blow ambient air around and that, he said, was sufficient for the inmates.<\/p>\n

As the Enterprise editorial points out while arguing against the AC units, the cost of outfitting every prison facility in Texas would be astronomical. Didn\u2019t the state just go through yet another legislative session in which budget-cutting was near the top of lawmakers\u2019 agenda? <\/p>\n

I am acutely aware of how hot it gets throughout the state. The Panhandle gets as hot as any other region of Texas. In places such as Beaumont \u2013 where I lived and worked for nearly 11 years \u2013 the heat is compounded by intense summer humidity that almost defies description.<\/p>\n

The state, though, doesn\u2019t lack for ways to help keep inmates reasonably comfortable during the hottest time of the year. Keep them hydrated. Let the fans blow the air throughout common areas.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been struck over the years by comments from hard-core Texans who complain that the prison system has become too much like a \u201ccountry club.\u201d I\u2019ll tell you this: The Clements Unit is no country club. Many of the individuals who are doing time in these places have done some terrible deeds against society.<\/p>\n

Are they suffering unduly because it gets warm inside those walls? Hardly. <\/p>\n\n

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A pair of editorials published by a paper where I used to work debates whether air conditioning units should be installed in Texas prisons. The Beaumont Enterprise asks readers to make the call. http:\/\/www.beaumontenterprise.com\/opinions\/editorials\/article\/PRO-CON-VIEW-Should-Texas-prisons-provide-4601603.php Here\u2019s my call: I don\u2019t think Texas prisons need air conditioning. My first tour of a Texas maximum-security prison occurred not … Continue reading AC in Texas prisons?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/highplainsblogger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}