Lawyers for man who inspired movie 'Bernie' are calling for air conditioning for him and other Texas inmates

HOUSTON (AP) — A legal battle is over a lack of air conditioning in Texas prisons brings together advocates of the issue and a current inmate who says his health is at risk from the state's hot prisons – the former undertaker whose murder case inspired the movie “Bernie.”

Lawyers for Texas prisoners called Monday to join a federal lawsuit filed last year by Bernie Tiede, who has claimed his life is in danger because he is housed in a stuffy prison cell with no air conditioning. He was later moved to an air-conditioned cell.

Tiede, 65, who suffers from diabetes and high blood pressure, says he continues to suffer from serious health problems after suffering something of a minor stroke due to the extreme heat in his cell. Only about 30% of Texas' 100 prison units are fully air-conditioned, while the rest are partially or not air-conditioned. Advocates claim that temperatures in Texas prisons often rise above 120 degrees Fahrenheit (48.9 degrees Celsius). Tiede is housed in the Estelle unit, which has partial air conditioning.

Attorneys from several prisoner rights groups, including Texas Prisons Community Advocates and Lioness: Justice Impacted Women's Alliance, filed a motion in federal court in Austin to join Tiede's lawsuit and expand it to affect all Texas prisoners.

The groups and Tiede are asking a federal judge to rule that the Texas prison system's current policies for dealing with excessive heat are unconstitutional and require the prison system to maintain temperatures between 18 and 29 degrees (65 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit) in its housing and holding areas Celsius).

“Bernie and the tens of thousands of inmates remain at risk of death due to heat-related illness and exposure to this unrelenting, torturous condition,” Richard Linklater, director of the 2011 black comedy inspired by Tiede's case, said during a virtual news conference Monday .

Tiede is serving a sentence 99 years in prison for the murder of Marjorie Nugent, a wealthy widow, in Carthage. Prosecutors say Tiede gave herself lavish gifts with Nugent's money before fatally shooting her in 1996 and then storing her body in a freezer for nine months.

Amanda Hernandez, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), said her agency does not comment on pending litigation.

Hernandez said two recently created webpages highlight TDCJ's efforts to install more air conditioning and explain the various measures the agency is taking to mitigate the effects of hot temperatures on inmates and staff. According to TDCJ, this includes providing fans and cooling towels and providing access to lounge areas where inmates can cool down.

“The core of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice’s mission is to protect the public, our employees and the inmates in our custody,” says the website describing the air conditioning construction projects.

TDCJ said there have been no heat-related deaths in the state's prisons since 2012.

On Monday, advocacy groups pushed back against those claims, saying increasingly hotter temperatures, including last summer's heat wave, likely led to or contributed to prisoner deaths.

A November 2022 study by researchers at Brown, Boston and Harvard universities found that 13%, or 271, of deaths that occurred between 2001 and 2019 in Texas prisons without universal air conditioning could have been due to extreme heat during warm months.

“As summer approaches in our state, the threat of extreme heat is looming once again, reminding us of the urgent need for action,” said Marci Marie Simmons of Lioness: Justice Impacted Women's Alliance, who endured the oppressive heat in prison as a prison guard for a former inmate .

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