Children incarcerated on the former death row unit of Louisiana’s Angola prison were locked in their cells without air conditioning for several days this month amid scorching summer temperatures, according to a teenager held at the facility. The child, identified by the pseudonym Charles C., said in a statement to his attorney that the kids were only let out of their cells for an eight-minute shower, which they had to take while handcuffed with their ankles shackled. On Monday night, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and other legal groups submitted statements from young people held at Angola to the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana. The plaintiffs asked the court to order state officials to immediately move all kids out of the unit and to cease transfers into the unit. With heat indexes in the surrounding area reaching as high as 133 degrees this month, a medical expert for the plaintiffs warned the court that the conditions could be fatal.
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