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| Florida Inmates Claim 'Dungeon-Like' Conditions on Death Row |
| By Associated Press |
| Published: 08/19/2002 |
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Florida death row inmates say temperatures routinely top 100 degrees Fahrenheit in their cells, forcing them to stand in toilets, drape themselves in wet towels and sleep naked on concrete floors. In a class-action lawsuit, inmates say the heat and lack of air-conditioning inside Union Correctional Institution amount to 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 recently 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. But lawyers with Florida's Attorney General's Office said the heat conditions are not severe enough to violate the constitution. They said the heat is especially oppressive for older and obese inmates and those with physical and mental health problems. 'Subjecting inmates, who are confined in their cells nearly all the time, to temperatures almost always in excess of 90 degrees (32 degrees C), frequently in excess of 100 degrees (38 degrees C), and as high as 110 degrees (43 degrees C), can only be called physically barbarous,' the lawsuit alleges. 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. |
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