It was just before 11:00 p.m. when John Castillo鈥檚 cellmate alerted the guards.
Castillo was passed out. His breathing was shallow. Prison staff rushed him to the medical unit, where they tried CPR and dosed him with epinephrine.
But it was already too late. Castillo was dead. He was 32, according to his autopsy.
The state鈥檚 was to blame. was also an , they said.
The Hughes Unit in Gatesville, about an hour outside Waco, is one of . On the day in August 2023 when Castillo was found unresponsive in his cell, the indoor temperatures there topped 94 degrees.
The Texas Newsroom recently obtained the autopsies of several prisoners, , who are named in alleging the lack of A/C in prisons amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. Three autopsies mention heat as a possible contributing factor in the inmates鈥� deaths. All three occurred last summer.
, 37, complained of heat rash days before she died. The night she was found in her cell, the air around her registered 95.7 degrees. , 50, had a core temperature of 106.9 degrees at his time of death. Castillo鈥檚 was 107.5 degrees.
But Texas prison officials reject the idea that heat caused any of these deaths.
鈥淸The Texas Department of Criminal Justice] does not count those deaths as heat deaths because the primary cause of death was due to other reasons such as underlying medical disorders, overdoses, etc.,鈥� Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Amanda Hernandez said in response to The Texas Newsrooms鈥� questions about the autopsies.
But experts said this explanation ignores how heat can exacerbate underlying illness, hastening or even triggering death. Inmate advocacy groups say prison officials don鈥檛 want to acknowledge this because .
This week, they take their case back to court.
鈥淭o suggest to the community, to the citizens of Texas, that the heat is not killing people in the Texas prison system is an absolute falsehood,鈥� said Jeff Edwards, the plaintiff鈥檚 lead lawyer. 鈥淚t鈥檚 outrageous, it鈥檚 wrong and that's what our case is all about.鈥�
The Heat
Texas law be kept between 65 and 85 degrees. Animal shelters have . Even are afforded some modicum of climate control.
Two-thirds of the 100 state jails and prisons, however, .
This continues as climate change . Last year was the Texas summer on record.
State lawmakers recently began making the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, or TDCJ, . According to these readings, the average indoor temperature in August topped 85 degrees inside more than 50 state-run lockups.
The hottest prison in the state 鈥� by far 鈥� was the Garza West Unit in Beeville. For 11 straight days last summer, the temperature behind its walls did not dip below 100 degrees, according to the prison鈥檚 indoor heat readings.
Last year, inmates filed nearly 5,000 grievances about the heat. Correctional staff also fall ill every summer from the extreme heat.
A 2022 study found were associated with heat in Texas prisons without air conditioning.
But the state鈥檚 prison department insists not a single inmate has died from the heat in a dozen years. It also appears to have changed the way it refers to prisoner deaths 鈥� and won鈥檛 explain why.
Just last year, Hernandez said there had been no 鈥渉eat-related deaths鈥� since 2012. This same phrasing to question the cause of these deaths.
Now, the department spokesman says there have been no 鈥渉eat deaths鈥� in that time.
When asked by The Texas Newsroom about the different wording, and whether the department defines 鈥渉eat-related deaths鈥� differently than 鈥渉eat deaths,鈥� Hernandez instead reiterated the agency鈥檚 stance: 鈥淭here have been no deaths caused by heat since 2012.鈥�
Hannah Haney, another agency spokesperson said, 鈥淭he health and safety of staff and inmates is a responsibility the agency takes seriously. TDCJ takes numerous precautions to lessen the effects of hot temperatures in our facilities.鈥�
Hernandez declined a request for a recorded interview.
The Lawsuit
Extreme heat in state prisons is not just a Texas problem. Lawsuits have been filed in states and , ncluding , arguing inmates are being cooked alive behind bars.
Jeff Edwards is the lead lawyer on a case challenging the Texas prison department鈥檚 heat policies. , the convicted murderer immortalized in the by Richard Linklater, along with several advocacy groups.
This isn鈥檛 the first time Edwards has fought the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. He represented a different group of plaintiffs who from the heat in 2011 and 2012.
The department settled in 2018 and . It also implemented new 鈥� including providing fans and water 鈥� and added . The rules now say vulnerable inmates get dibs on housing with A/C.
Inmate rights advocates, however, say these protocols are not being followed. Although $85 million in state funding was recently pumped into the agency, which will go , there is no intention to install air conditioning across the entire system at this time.
Edwards said this is the fix the current lawsuit seeks. The inmate autopsies, among other evidence, will be central to the case he presents in federal court starting Tuesday.
鈥淭he definition of indifference is knowing about a problem, knowing there鈥檚 a solution and not fixing things. They know that the heat endangers inmates,鈥� Edwards told The Texas Newsroom.
He added the agency is now playing a 鈥渨ord game鈥� to downplay the heat's deadliness.
鈥淭here can be multiple causes of death,鈥� said Edwards. 鈥淎 child would understand this.鈥�
, lawyers with the Office of the Attorney General argued the prison department could not be sued because, as a government entity, it enjoys immunity. They said inmates cannot prove prison leaders are ignoring the problem because the department has implemented heat protocols, and argued their concerns of heat stroke or death were 鈥渉ypothetical and speculative.鈥�
鈥淭he deliberate indifference standard does not turn on results. If it did, then any prison with a heat-related illness could be guilty of deliberate indifference,鈥� in a recent court filing.
Hernandez declined to comment further on the lawsuit.
The autopsies
In Texas, are reported to the Office of the Attorney General. These public reports are separate from autopsies and typically include only a short narrative describing what happened before the death.
Autopsies can provide a fuller picture.
These examinations are ordered for all inmate deaths, except those who are executed, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
In April, the Texas Newsroom filed a public records request for the autopsies of 10 inmates named in the lawsuit. After multiple delays, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice released nine of them. The autopsies were performed by doctors at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, which also provides inmate health care.
While the autopsies provided new information about the inmates鈥� medications, underlying medical conditions and causes of death, they were otherwise heavily redacted. All but a few paragraphs of the reports, which are between 12 and 26 pages long, were blacked out.
Two experts who reviewed the autopsies for The Texas Newsroom raised concerns about the department鈥檚 approach to these cases.
鈥淪everal of these cases that you鈥檝e shown me, all have conditions that are knowingly exacerbated by extreme temperatures,鈥� said , an epidemiologist at the Texas A&M University School of Public Health who co-wrote .
Dixon said prisoners are more likely to be in poor health. Many take medications that make them more susceptible to heat illness or stroke. Adding heat to this mix can be deadly, she said.
According to the autopsies, doctor鈥檚 attributed to 鈥渆pilepsy/seizure disorder, with a high environmental temperature (heat stress/hyperthermia) as an important contributory factor.鈥�
died of 鈥渉yperthermia,鈥� or an abnormally high body temperature, due to a syndrome that results in too much serotonin in the body. He was also on medication for his mental health. 鈥淓nvironmental heat is a possible contributory factor,鈥� .
Hagerty鈥檚 death was due to severe hyponatremia 鈥� abnormally low sodium levels in the body 鈥� due to gastrointestinal illness likely related to a COVID-19 infection, . The doctors also determined that obesity, diabetes and 鈥渆levated environmental temperature (heat stress)鈥� may have contributed to her death.
Particularly concerning for Dixon was how inmates who had asthma, diabetes, or were taking antidepressants appeared not to be in housing with air conditioning.
Despite her underlying health risks, TDCJ鈥檚 Amanda Hernandez said Hagerty did not have a medical restriction the prison believed required her to be in housing with A/C.
In the eyes of the state, none of these three count as heat deaths.
鈥淎lthough elevated temperatures were cited in these autopsies as a possible contributing factor, their deaths were not caused by heat,鈥� said agency spokesperson Hannah Haney.
Dr. Judy Melinek, a forensic pathologist who has been an expert witness in lawsuits involving state prison systems, said this interpretation 鈥渟hows a lack of understanding鈥� about how multiple factors can contribute to a death.
鈥淛ust because the cause of death is a natural disease process, that does not mean that heat didn't play a role,鈥� she said.
Melinek also questioned why investigators appeared to not take the temperature of some inmates upon death, a move which could help prove whether heat was a factor.
Neither expert said they could categorically determine whether the deaths in question were caused by heat because the autopsies were so heavily redacted.
Elizabeth Hagerty鈥檚 loved ones said they want more answers.
According to the 37-year-old inmate鈥檚 autopsy, Hagerty told medical staff on June 27 she had not been able to keep food or water down for days. On a scale of 1 to 10, she said her abdominal pain was an 8. She was sent back to her cell, told to drink more fluids and to come back for more treatment if it got worse.
The next day, Hagerty emailed her partner鈥檚 mother from prison.
鈥淚鈥檝e been sick,鈥� Hagerty wrote to Martha Romero, according to a screenshot of the email Romero provided to The Texas Newsroom. 鈥淚鈥檝e been trying to sleep it off but it鈥檚 just so hot.鈥�
Hagerty died two days later. Her release date was a month away.
鈥淛ust a little longer n I'm out,鈥� Hagerty wrote Romero in her June 28 email. 鈥淚 can't wait.鈥�
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