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A judge could set a new execution date for no sooner than 90 days from now, though Roberson has a pending appeal.
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The Texas Commission on Jail Standards missed key inspections and left prisoner complaints unresolved.
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Judge Robert Pitman says inmates who sued the state could win their case but that the fix is not easy or cheap.
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The investigation was triggered by a federal judge, who questioned the state’s recordkeeping. Inmates are suing the state, alleging the heat inside the state’s dozens of un-air conditioned prisons is dangerous.
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Under a little-known Texas elections law, state prison inmates who are actively appealing their convictions are eligible to register and vote.
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The state of Texas is being sued over the lack of air conditioning in its prisons, where indoor temperatures can top 100 degrees in the summer. In federal court, inmates detailed the extreme measures they’ve taken to get out of the heat, like starting fires or inflicting self-harm.
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Newly released autopsies show extreme temperatures in state prisons may have contributed to multiple recent deaths behind bars. But the state says heat hasn’t killed any prisoners in more than a decade. A lawsuit challenging Texas prison heat protocols will be heard in federal court on Tuesday.
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Prison book programs have been sending free books to Texas prisons for years, but recently, they've been told they're no longer allowed to under a Texas Department of Criminal Justice policy they say they've never heard of before.
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“This is one situation in which they can take control of their narrative, so they can rewrite the story and envision a world in which they are not seen as the bad guys, but the heroes who can save the world.�
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The courts, along with federal and state lawmakers, have created a series of barriers against improving prison conditions with air conditioning.