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| Louisiana Death Row |
Two inmates from Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola testified to what they called “indescribable” heat levels on the death row tiers, during the first day of a federal trial in Baton Rouge on Monday. The suit was filed by three offenders who said preexisting medical conditions put them at a higher risk for heat-related illness and death.
In early July, District Judge Brian A. Jackson ordered temperature data be collected on Angola’s death row for three weeks to determine how hot it really gets on the tiers, which are not air-conditioned. However, during that same time, prison officials took steps to try to lower the temperatures that might have irrevocably damaged the data gathering.
“I’m very, very troubled by this,” Jackson said Monday, after hearing prison officials installed window awnings and tried blasting the tiers’ outer walls with water cannons to attempt to lower the indoor temperatures.
He said what was even more “illogical” was why the steps were taken -- in violation of a court-order to keep all else equal during the evidence gathering period -- when prison officials said they didn’t even expect the efforts to work.
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Source: nola.com, August 5, 2013
