10 May 4 – 10, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents back to a dorm where we do not have AC.” For decades, advocates, attorneys and the state’s main correctional officers union have called on the Texas government to install air conditioning in prisons, which can reach 130 degrees in the sweltering summer months. And for decades, the legislature — most recently the state Senate — has refused to take up the issue. Sherman, who was joined at Thursday’s Capitol presser by fel- low legislators and advocates, is hoping this time is different. There are currently four bills focused on temperature control, and one of them, Sen- ate Bill 1708, passed through the House last week. If enacted, the bill would require pris- ons to maintain temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees. But its prospects in the Sen- ate appear dim. A similar bill passed the House two years ago and was never taken up by the Senate, a decision Rep. Terry Canales lays at the feet of Lt. Governor Dan Patrick. After all, as Cana- les points out, Patrick is the leader of the Sen- ate, so he decides if and when bills can be introduced or debated on the Senate floor. If Patrick doesn’t bring the bill to the floor, Canales told the Texas Tribune, “peo- ple [will] continue to roast alive.” Patrick did not respond to a request for comment. In an interview with the Observer, Jenny Hixon, an advocate with the Texas Civil Rights Project, echoed Canales. “If you can’t get any fresh air, and you can’t get any breeze, you’re basically bak- ing,” Hixon says. “The biggest opposition that we continue to hear is the price tag, which in this partic- ular session doesn’t make a lot of sense, since we’re continuing to invest in things like Operation Lone Star.” That operation — a much-maligned border initiative that faced a federal civil rights inves- tigation last summer — has a reported price tag of $4 billion. Estimates vary as to how much it would cost to install AC in all state prisons that need it, but the state House says it would be about $545 million (or roughly a quarter of the cost of Operation Lone Star). That said, Hixon adds she is “really hesi- tant to frame things in that way, because at the end of the day, the cost is not really the issue. We can’t keep these people like this. It’s cruel.” In filmed testimonials Hixon shared with the Observer, prison staff, incarcerated people and their loved ones talk about what it’s like to live in an uncooled cinderblock box when the summer heat arrives. One woman, Theresa, relayed that her husband felt like he was dying in his cell. An- other woman, a prison employee, talked about how incarcerated people often wait weeks to consult with a doctor about a heat rash, and when the doctor finally gets to them, all they can prescribe is hydrocortisone from the commissary (which is usually sold out). Of course, there are far worse effects. In late 2022, a study from Boston Univer- sity, Brown University and Harvard Univer- sity determined that roughly 13% of prison mortality in warm months between 2001 and 2019 may be attributable to extreme heat. That means the lack of air condition- ing could have contributed to as many as 271 deaths in that period, which does not in- clude the record-breaking summer of 2022, nor the three summers in which COVID-19 infections raged throughout Texas prisons. As pointed out by the Tribune, this mortal- ity rate is bound to worsen as global warming takes its toll on Texas. Further, as the legisla- tors on the Capitol steps were quick to men- tion, incarcerated people aren’t the only population affected by the lack of AC. As he was leaving the prison where he met the HVAC worker, Sherman was ap- proached by a corrections officer who no- ticed him talking to incarcerated people. “What about us?” he asked the lawmaker. “We’re here, too.” According to the Texas State Auditor’s Office, there was a 40.3% turnover rate for correctional officers in 2021. “I don’t think it’s a big leap that if you’re working in a job where it’s 130 degrees, you’re not going to want to keep that job very long,” Hixon points out. A spokesman from the Texas Depart- ment of Criminal Justice agreed. “We have previously said that air condi- tioning would likely have a positive impact on helping to retain and recruit staff,” the spokesman told the Observer. The depart- ment says it does not have a position on the bills in play, but it has previously fought at- tempts to install AC units in stifling prisons due to financial concerns. In one case, the state spent $7 million to oppose an AC in- stallation that ultimately cost $4 million. Like Hixon, though, the lawmakers and legislative staff at last week’s press confer- ence were eager to focus on the humanity of the issue, not the money. Collin Packer, Rep. Sherman’s communications director, pointed out that Texas law requires animal shelters to be properly air conditioned. No such law exists for prisons. “When we view our fellow human beings as animals,” Packer says, “we can begin to ex- cuse our inhumane behavior towards them.” ▼ LAWSUITS CHEER COACH SUED NAVARRO COLLEGE HEAD CHEERLEADING COACH MONICA ALDAMA NAMED IN LAWSUIT OVER CLAIMS OF SEXUAL ASSAULT ON THE TEAM. BY SIMONE CARTER C ontroversy continues to enshroud Na- varro College’s acclaimed cheer team, featured in the Netflix docuseries Cheer, after a new lawsuit revealed allegations of sexual assault and a purported cover-up. The suit names the college, cheer head coach Monica Aldama and several others as defendants, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram first reported. Filed recently in federal court in Dallas, the lawsuit details claims made by a former Navarro cheerleading “rookie.” The plaintiff alleges that she was sexu- ally assaulted during her first semester at Navarro, in September 2021. Before the as- sault, she had been a successful and happy gymnast who wanted to forge a career in cheer, according to the lawsuit. One night that September, a male cheer- leader allegedly entered the plaintiff’s bed- room sometime after 4 a.m. and started groping and sexually assaulting her, court doc- uments show. She screamed at him to Unfair Park from p8 >> p12 Joan Jett and The Blackheart • X Ambassadors • Judah & the Lion Little River Band • Jimmie Vaughan & The Tilt-A-Whirl Band The Romantics • Joshua Ray Walker • Sail On: The Beach Boys Tribute C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band The Peterson Brothers • Pierce Pettis • Bidi Bidi Band Squeezebox Bandits • Beat Root Revival • King Margo Beth Nielsen Chapman • Gabe Lee MAY 19-21 Galatyn Park Urban Center • Richardson, Texas wildf lowerfest ival.com
