AUSTIN (Nexstar) — As summer heats up, some of Texas' nearly 90,000 inmates living in uncooled prisons are begging for relief. Reports of dehydration, heat rash and desperate attempts to cool down with toilet water underscore years of calls to air-condition the state's prison system.

“I will never forget the inmate who drank from the toilet last summer because the ice cooler was without water and ice all day,” an inmate at TDCJ's Coffield Unit wrote in a letter to KXAN last month. “My life is in grave danger… I am begging Mother Nature for help so I can survive.”

“We are stuck in the day room with no running water and it is getting hot,” wrote another inmate from Coffield. “(Staff) say you have a normal heat rash when your face and whole body looks like you have been in a bee fight.”

TDCJ told Nexstar that eight inmates and 10 staff members suffered from heat-related illnesses this year. They say their heat protocol measures are effective and include water coolers, fans, rest areas and “heat sensitivity scores” for at-risk inmates.

Experts and advocates say the agency's reports on heat injuries and deaths underestimate the severity of the problem.

Texas Prison Community Advocates has filed suit against TDCJ to require air conditioning in all TDCJ facilities. The group's first hearing will be held in Travis County Court on July 30.

“Everyone knows by now that people are literally dying in our prisons in one form or another because of these extreme temperatures,” said Dr. Amite Dominick of Texas Prison Community Advocates. Their 2022 study found that 13% of deaths in Texas prisons during the summer months could be due to extreme heat – although TDCJ does not classify deaths as heat-related and has not done so since 2011.

“I think these (heat injuries and deaths) are low,” she said. “These numbers have always been low throughout TDCJ. There is a culture of retaliation in our prison system that discourages people from reporting incidents.”

Nexstar's review of prison death reports found that at least seven inmates died under unclear circumstances after being found unconscious in unrefrigerated facilities since June 1. They include 22-year-old Davion Riggs, who died of cardiac arrest in the Hughes Unit, and 25-year-old Joshua Losoya, who died of respiratory distress in the Estelle Unit.

The TDCJ has in the past pointed to a variety of possible causes of death – including overdose, pre-existing conditions and suicide. Proponents say the uncertainty is the problem.

“We know exactly what happens to the body in extreme heat. We know how heart attacks happen, how blood vessels dilate. We know how dehydration works and what it does,” said Jessica Dickerson of TPCA. “20- or 30-year-olds with no underlying health conditions don't die from heat exposure unless it's extreme.”

Since 2018, TDCJ has installed air conditioning for nearly 9,000 additional beds. Cooling plans are in place for nearly 16,000 more. But even after the $85 million in maintenance and renovations, TDCJ will have enough cooled beds for less than half of its 132,000 inmates.

Other letters from inmates report that staff shortages limit the implementation of TDCJ's heat protection policies.

“There have been no showers or any recreational activities for the past three days,” wrote a third inmate in the Coffield Unit.

“From 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., when it's hottest, there's no one here. They have to hand out water more than once a day,” wrote another inmate at Coffield.

There are nearly 6,000 vacancies for correctional officers at the TDCJ – almost one in four positions is vacant.

The department has asked lawmakers for help in building more air conditioning units. A bipartisan bill to keep temperatures at TDCJ facilities below 30 degrees passed the Texas House of Representatives last session, but failed in the Senate.

“You have to give some credit to the TDCJ … we all agree with those who are trying to protect our loved ones,” Dickerson said. “Our Senate is where we keep getting stuck.”