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- The Texas Department of Criminal Justice raised the price of bottled water for incarcerated people by 50%.
- This further limits access to water, as the tap water is often "simply filthy," one prison reform advocate told KVUE.
- Meanwhile, Texas faces a punishing summer, with several cities seeing over 30 consecutive days of triple digit temperatures.
This summer marks one of these most extreme yet in Texas, bringing some of the longest heatwaves recorded in the state. El Paso, Texas hasn't seen a day below 100 degrees in over a month, and McAllen, Texas, is on track to beat its all-time record of 31 consecutive days hitting triple digits, the Texas Tribune first reported.
Amid this punishing heat — which is even still milder than last year, during which at least 306 people died of heat-related illness in Texas — the Texas Department of Criminal Justice has raised the price of bottled water available in prisons by 50%, local outlet KVUE reported.
KVUE confirmed the price change in an email exchange with the department. The water vendor had requested the price change, which the department accepted after being unable to find another vendor that could meet the agencies needs, a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told Insider.
A case of bottled water now costs $7.20 rather than $4.80, and individual bottles went up from $0.20 to $0.30. Prison reform advocate Amite Dominick told KVUE that adds financial pressure on families where the breadwinner is incarcerated.
Furthermore, Chivas Watson, a prison reform advocate who has previously been incarcerated in Texas, told the outlet the water quality is "simply filthy."
"All inmates have access to clean water for free," a spokesperson for the Texas Department of Criminal Justice told Insider. "Water quality is monitored."
Furthermore, many of those incarcerated are in facilities that reach 130 degrees and do not have universal air conditioning, KVUE reported earlier this month, making access to clean water even more essential. Over two-thirds of prisons in Texas do not have air conditioning in most living areas, according to the Texas Tribune.
This move marks another development in the statewide battle for heat safety and access to water. For the past several weeks, construction workers in Texas have protested a new law that ended local ordinances mandating water breaks. Activists have dubbed it "the law that kills" as workers face punishing heat.
This story was updated at 5 p.m. to include comment from the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.