Texas prison staff faked records about heat faced by inmates, guards, investigation shows

Employees from at least one Texas prison falsified temperature logs that officials are required to use to decide when extreme heat poses risks to inmates and guards, according to Austin public radio station KUT. KUT's report is based on an internal state investigation prompted by a federal that argues the lack of air conditioning in two-thirds of Texas prisons amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and has led to inmates deaths and health problems. The report cited by KUT found prison staff at the Mark W. Stiles Unit in Beaumont "recreated" logs from the summer of 2022 that were missing or had been marked over by the lockup's employees.