REGULAR WORKERS GET HOT

Regarding Marta Glass' Aug. 28 Viewpoints letter, "Hot prisons are
dangerous," and Texas inmates having to work during the recent "heat
emergency": There's nothing wrong with turning out inmates to work in the
heat, whether they be healthy and young or geriatric. I'm not sure it has
anything to do with punishment or cruelty at all, as she suggested.

The fact is, there are a lot of us here in the real world who get up and go
to work in the heat every single day -- it's how we pay our bills, keep a
roof over our head and, for the most part, finance the Texas Department of
Criminal Justice.

Typically, field workers in prisons begin work early in the day and don't
work past 2 p.m. I wonder if the heat keeps the inmates from the recreation
yards in the heat of the afternoon?

Also, the prison staff who supervise these inmates have to deal with the
heat as well, whether in the field or in unair-conditioned cell blocks. If
staff has to endure the heat, then my heart doesn't bleed very much for
inmates.

Glass is correct in saying that over a hundred Texans have died due to heat
related illnesses, but oddly, none died from the heat while incarcerated by
the state. What does it say about a society that will let its honest
citizens die while bending over backwards to keep inmates as healthy as
possible?

Don Ellisor, Crockett

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson