By the first National Lawyers Guild – Prison Chapter
Members of the first Prison Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) have created a series of four petitions that they have called Project Blitz. The Prison Chapter is submitting the petitions to the United Nations Human Rights Council concerning inhumane treatment in Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons. The NLG – Prison Chapter, as per NLG communications, is
a collective of jailhouse lawyers, writ writers, and incarcerated paralegals with the common goal of challenging the systemic abuses and inhumane conditions of the Texas prison industrial complex. We endeavor to raise awareness of the injustices forced upon incarcerated people and advocate the cost-saving and social benefits of alternatives to incarceration. We believe that mass litigation coupled with solidarity action is the most effective and efficient way to challenge mass incarceration from within. We are dedicated to meaningful litigation that demands accountability and active resolution to the on-going inhumane and unconstitutional conditions within Texas prisons.
Below is a scan of the petition concerning deadly heat at Texas prisons. This issue has been an ongoing problem for many years, and Texas has spent enough money fighting legal challenges that they could have paid for air conditioning many of the units, but instead wasted those funds on court battles. Currently, Texas law states that prisons must keep their hogs in air conditioning, but not the people in their custody.