North Texas Prison Evacuated After Carbon Monoxide Leak
On June 3, 2026, prisoners were evacuated from the Bridgeport Correctional Center (BCC) in Wise County after an unsafe level of carbon monoxide was detected at the facility. The deadly, odorless gas was linked to a leak originating from the prison’s boiler room, according to a Facebook post from the Bridgeport Police Department. No injuries from either prisoners or staff were reported, and the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) later said that the prisoners incarcerated at BCC were being transferred to other facilities until repairs are made.
The BCC, located around 80 miles northwest of Dallas, was first opened in 1989 and can hold up to 520 prisoners. Prisons in Texas, like in many other states, are often in bad shape. And while injuries from the gas leak were avoided, other structural deficiencies leave a much deadlier toll.
Because only two-thirds of Texas’ 103 facilities have full air conditioning, for example, at least 14 prisoners die from heat stroke each year, despite a federal judge in 2025 declaring TDCJ’s refusal to cool prison cells unconstitutional. [See: PLN, May 2025, p.57.] On the other end of the climate spectrum, the 2021 deep freeze and power crisis that swept through Texas left tens of thousands of prisoners without heat or water for up to a week. [See: PLN, Apr. 2021, p.22.]
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Texas prisoners were setting fires outside of cells and housing areas to call attention to poor food, no shower access and other conditions. But as The Marshall Project reported at the time, many of the fires were ignored simply because more than 200 state prisons lacked working fire alarms.
Sources: CBS News, Texas Tribune, The Marshall Project
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