On the third day of 100-degree temperatures last week, locked without air-conditioning in a Texas prison north of Houston, Joseph Martire said he began to feel overwhelmed.
An inmate for nearly 16 years, Mr. Martire was expecting to be released in a few weeks.
But it was so hot that day, he recalled, that he wondered if he would make it that long.
“They kept me there for two hours, drinking ice water, salt water, taking my temperature, making sure I was still alive,” he said.
The weekslong June heat wave scorching Texas has been particularly brutal and dangerous inside the state’s sprawling prison system, where a majority of those incarcerated, and the guards who watch over them, have been struggling without air-conditioning.
Persons:
Joseph Martire, Martire, ” Mr, ”
Locations:
Texas, Houston