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Cooling Plan In Store For Louisiana Death Row

msppmoore
/
Flickr
The entrance to Angola Prison, where death row inmates are housed.

The state corrections department says the only way it can lower heat levels on Louisiana's death row to a federal judge's requirements is by installing air conditioning.

U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson ruled in December that death row gets so hot it violates U.S. constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment. He demanded a plan to cool the cells so the heat index never goes above 88 degrees.

Windows and fans are currently the primary sources of ventilation on death row.

In a court filing Monday, state prison officials submitted a heat remediation plan that would involve buying air conditioning units and a climate monitoring system for the cells.

It's unclear when the system would be installed or how much it would cost.

The corrections department is appealing Jackson's ruling.

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