A federal judge in Baton Rouge has ordered the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola to immediately improve conditions for some inmates required to work as farm laborers while a lawsuit claiming inhumane conditions in Louisiana's extreme heat goes to trial.
In an order filed in Louisiana Middle District Court Tuesday, Judge Brian A. Jackson gave an opinion partially in favor of plaintiffs in the ongoing case, ordering officials to quickly correct what he called "glaring deficiencies" in heat-related policies for Angola's "Farm Line."
"This is an incredible victory for all of the men who are incarcerated at Angola," said Lydia Wright of The Promise of Justice Initiative, an attorney for the plaintiffs.
In September 2023, eight inmates and Voice of the Experienced, a Louisiana criminal justice reform nonprofit, filed suit against Secretary of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections James Leblanc, Angola Warden Timothy Hooper and others, alleging cruel and unusual punishment and forced labor on the facility's Farm Line in temperatures too hot to safely work.
"...relief is required to preserve and protect human health and safety, especially as the summer heat arrives in full force," Jackson wrote in his decision, going against the state.
Prison leaders' hard argued such an order was premature, since a final decision has not been reached in the case.
Jackson ordered the warden to immediately make changes on the prison's Farm Line, including addressing a lack of shade and adequate rest for laborers, providing workers with sunscreen, creating a procedure for inmates with health conditions affected by the heat. And he required the prison to develop additional policies to protect inmates when the heat index reaches extreme values.
"The Court finds that ... the dangers for incarcerated persons working in high-heat environments on the Farm Line is open and obvious," Jackson wrote, adding that the state was "deliberately indifferent" in adopting measures to account for rising temperatures.
Department of Public Safety and Corrections spokesperson Ken Pastorick said Tuesday the agency strongly disagrees with the court’s overall ruling and have filed a notice of appeal with the 5th Circuit.
Wright said the suit's ultimate goal is to end the Farm Line, a punitive labor program, where she believes adequate safety is not possible.
"These people are really suffering and there is unnecessary. It's cruel. And the court recognizes what the evidence demonstrates," Wright said.
In the original complaint, plaintiffs claim regular dehydration and dizziness due to forced labor in extreme conditions.
Temperatures at Angola reached 90 degrees or higher for 26 days in June 2023, according to National Weather Service data included in the complaint.
On Tuesday, temperatures reached 98 degrees at the prison with a heat index as high as 113 degrees.
Wright said a current inmate working on the Farm Line is 70 years old.
"Breaks are uncommon. Shade and sanitary toilet facilities are nearly unheard of," attorneys wrote in the complaint.
In his ruling, Jackson gave the state little time to remedy conditions at the facility.
"Given the serious nature of interests at stake here, Defendants shall propose remedies within seven days," Jackson wrote.
An additional hearing to address the proposed remedies may also take place, the judge added.
Though a "victory" for the plaintiffs in the case set for a jury trial beginning Sept. 30, the judge did not order for the Farm Line to be shut down during recent periods of extensive heat.
Citing corrections' attorneys' arguments that agricultural labor does not cease in the South in high temperatures, Jackson did not grant requests for a temporary shut down.
Still, the possibility of shutting the Farm Line down, as well as awarding further relief to defendants, remains a possibility, as a trial will hear arguments in coming months, Wright said.
"We'll have the full monopoly of the full range of evidence to support our claim and we'll go for the Farm Line then," she said. "We are really looking forward to to our day in court, and winning, frankly."
Staff reporter Matt Bruce contributed to the reporting for this story.