Judge Orders State To Keep 3 Death Row Inmates Cool

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A federal judge has ordered prison officials to continue using new measures for controlling dangerous heat levels for three medically vulnerable inmates on Louisiana's death row. He stopped short of requiring the installation of air conditioning — saying the low-tech remedies officials experimented with last summer have worked.

U.S. District Judge Brian Jackson in Baton Rouge issued the order Thursday, making sure the state keeps the inmates cool in summer using methods that include diverting cool air from a guards' area to the inmates' cells; and, the use of ice chests modified to blow cool air into the cells.

Attorneys for the state and for inmates said they were reviewing the ruling.

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