Judge dismisses lawsuit claiming high prison temps are cruel

BATON ROUGE, La. – A federal judge has conditionally dismissed a lawsuit that claimed three ailing death row inmates in Louisiana were being subjected to cruel and unusual punishment through high heat indexes.

The Advocate reports attorneys for the inmates and the state Department of Corrections jointly requested to dismiss the 2013 civil rights lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson ruled in 2016 that cell heat indexes exceeding 88 degrees constitutes cruel and unusual punishment, but the ruling was overturned because it defined a maximum heat index.

The conditional dismissal requires Louisiana to remain in “substantial compliance” with an agreement it signed last year. That agreement requires the inmates to have daily showers, individual ice containers and fans, water faucets in their cells and other cooling techniques.

The dismissal could become final in November.

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Information from: The Advocate, http://theadvocate.com