Texas inmates soaking bedsheets in toilet water to cool off in unairconditioned prisons
sacurrent.com
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.
That’s 41 too many. Jesus fucking Christ, America.
Wow! That's going to save the state of Texas so much money! It's expensive to house people against their will for enjoying forbidden plants in their own homes. 🙄
what? naw, they have to meet the quota, they’ll just arrest some other poors
41 victims of negligent homicide at the hands of the state.
Forty. Freaking. One. Why has this country not been in an uproar since the first one? Why did we wait until this many? This is the first I've heard about it. Doesn't surprise me at all, but I had no idea this was happening.
Forty one!!
If you think this is on accident, then you don't understand Texas #fascism.
I love that someone always downvotes the GOP being called out as fascist but will never argue the point.
They're absolutely fascists. Their enemies are the same as the Nazis: sexual, ethnic, and religious minorities & leftists. They want to dominate an oppressive monoculture that harkens back to a fictional past. Anyone denying that they're fascists either doesn't understand what that means or is lying.
Great thing about Kbin is you can see who that is. Just going to say I see one or two names fairly regularly.
Edit: LOL, unsurprisingly the same guy upvoted this comment from HazDaz.
This comment is gold.
Also, love the "men's rights" shit they post. It all makes sense.
Indeed. Also ultra nationalism, religiosity, authoritarianism, ...
Most people don’t think of the meaning of fascist beyond a generic pejorative.
Arguably (IMO) there are far too many established uses of the word for anyone to "Well ackshully..." about it. :-)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Definitions\_of\_fascism
You think fascists care about what some academic considers fascism?
No? Is this a trick question?
Our society is diseased.
I agree with you and have studied this from my role as an intelligence official and former interrogator. The lawyer who prosecuted the Nazis at the Nuremberg trials stated that the real problem wasn't the evil but the apathy of the masses that allowed a few evil people to do big evil things.
The fact of the matter is that human reactions to certain information are well known from our centuries of study of propaganda and marketing and psychology. At this point it is easy for the government to manipulate messaging so that the people are misled enough to allow evil.
It is the simple stuff and even smart people are influenced by it over time. It is a well studied phenomenon. No one is immune. For example, Trump saying that he has the most transparent government ever while specifically taking away rights and doing things in secret.
The propaganda tool has been efficient for our governments, especially since the advent of the internet. Also, keep in mind that roughly half of the population has a two-digit IQ. Some people will never admit that they are dumb and therefore will never admit that they have been deceived.
The fact that US citizens are scared to stand up to their government because the government police will abuse them shows where we are as a society. We are deeply fascist and the illusion of democracy hasn't been functioning in Congress for quite a while. The illusion of the checks and balances has worn thin as well.
So I agree with you. Our society is diseased. But it's not necessarily the faults of the individuals.
I'm ready to cry.
That's good. That's progress. Eventually you'll have no more tears to shed, you'll grow numb and dead inside, and then, finally, you'll be able to appreciate the morbid hilarity of humanity's constant, unflinching torture of humanity.
We really are the fucking worst 🤣
Get mad.
Texas prisons have been considered a human rights violation by many legal bodies around the world.
Scottish Judge Refuses to Extradite to Texas
Heat Deaths in Texas Prisons, 2007 - 2014
U.N. Recommendations for the U.S. Prison System to Become Ethical
Study/Report on U.S. Prison Slave Labor
Like with most things under republican control, suffering is the point. They like it when people they don't like suffers and they will pay money to see it happen. In this case they cause the suffering AND they save money so there is no way it's getting fixed while Texas is red.
Texas can't even provide proper climate control to their regular unincarcerated citizens. The prisons never had a chance.
There’s a difference there. You can justify it under capitalism that unincarcerated people have access to air conditioning if they choose to prioritize it and work for it. Choice is one of the things denied to prisoners. It’s why they theoretically get access to medical care.
Texans don't seem to care about hard-working people getting heat-exhaustion to begin with, let alone prisoners.
As a Texan, I do.
Also as a Texan, I'm looking at more socialist countries to move to.
We're not all bad, some of us are just stuck.
Honestly, you'll do a hell of a lot more good staying and helping Texas turn purple. I've thought a few times about leaving the states, but last election I got to help my whole state flip blue. It's hard, because the assholes will never stop fighting to turn America into a shithole, and so the fight to turn it into something better is never over. But America isn't unique in that aspect.
Blue, while better than red, is still too right for America to ever change in our lifetime. Unless we get an actual left wing party in the States, the Overton Window will just continue to move further and further right.
have you considered the EU? here's some routes for you:
if you are degree qualified, then look into getting an EU blue card. it's the EU's answer to the green card, and it's probably the best way for anyone who's got the chops. it gives you a near free pick at where you specifically end up. try this page to get a feel of eligible locations, some of the locations need big boy salary, so might be off-limits
do you have any grandparents (or great-grandparents) that are from europe? some countries offer citizenship through descent. if you can prove the descent, then you can register as a citizen. 100% worth checking this. it's a long shot, with a huge payout if it's valid. common ones you can check are italy, ireland, hungary, germany (maybe?)
third option for you - "digital nomad" visas are a thing that's growing. you pick up a remote job for one EU state, and then you can get a visa to live in... a different EU state!? you pay the taxes to the state that is giving you the remote job, and you live in the state that provides the visa. the idea being, where does it even matter where you work, if it's a remote job? so long as your dues are paid, you can go wild! some digital nomad visas even let you bring family along. not all EU states offer this, you would have to do individual research.
if you are serious about moving somewhere, genuinely serious, then take actionable steps to do it, today. i am a couple years down the path of taking steps to move myself. i don't know how old you are, but you don't want to look back and think "i could have took measurable steps when i was younger to get out of here, and i didn't". wherever your chosen destination, make it your mission. keep your eyes on the prize.
and lastly, if it doesn't work out, oh well? at least you tried! you will have gained life experience some americans would dream to get, and you should be able to move back simply. you can't shake US citizenship that easily ;)
This isn't a human rights violation?
Welcome to Texas, son.
Human rights violation?! THIS! IS! TEXAS!
Wait, is "unairconditioned" actually a word?
There is no rule dictating what is and what isn't a word.
Language is an ever changing object.
Was an idea communicated by expressing the sound? It's a word.
You didn't do this, but some people so firmly cling to the idea of rules (which as we have covered, do not exist) that they will feign ignorance at the introduction of an unfamiliar presentation. I find it odd.
This could lead into a topic about how everything around us, society similarly, has no rules. It's just a collection of ideas stacked haphazardly, any of it can be changed by any one of us. But I will stop there.
Well said.
It is super important to communicate to people that it is not normal for prisoners to be struggling in the heat like this.