AUSTIN, Texas — Criminal justice advocates challenged state lawmakers to spend a few minutes in a hot, mobile prison cell Tuesday, in an effort to bring awareness to scorching summer conditions for inmates.

  • Bill would require state jails and prisons stay between 65 and 85 degrees
  • Texas Department of Criminal Justice says​ 23 people have died behind bars from extreme temperatures since 1998

The mock cell sat at 12th and Colorado Street near the Texas State Capitol. A generator powered industrial lamps to crank up the heat.

According to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, at least 23 people have died behind bars from extreme temperatures since 1998.

"Hot is not even a good word to describe the heat," former inmate David Sneed said.

When Sneed retired from the military, he struggled with addiction. He turned to crime to fund his habit and he went to prison for robbery twice, and once more for possession of drugs. He said he remembers a particularly warm morning at breakfast while locked up.

"I didn't drink the milk, I just literally wanted the condensation off the carton," said Sneed.  

Temperatures in the mock cell on 12th Street rose to 90 degrees, which is not an uncommon temperature in state prison facilities during the summer.

"We've got over 100 prisons in our state, and the majority of them do not have AC," Rep. Carl Sherman, D - Lancaster, said.  

Sherman says the facilities that do have air conditioning aren't regulated. He has co-authored a bill that would require state jails and prisons to follow the same temperature stipulations county jails are required to follow and keep their facilities between 65 and 85 degrees.

Rep. Sherman says state prisons can often be more than fifty degrees hotter.

"The conditions of our prison systems in many ways, with temperatures reaching as high as 130, 140 degrees, it's inhumane,” he said. “I mean we have laws against this when it comes to keeping animals. So what does that tell you about how we perceive certain individuals."

In the time our reporter spent at the mock cell, no lawmaker got inside.

Bills have been filed in both the House and Senate that would require state jails and prisons stay between 65 and 85 degrees. ​