General Discussion

Right after the last big freeze. His health had been irredeemably harmed through long term hyperthermia.
The private prison he was in had made no advance cold weather preparations, were constantly "reactive" - as in waiting as long as possible to reach back to the State for additional required resources, and constantly blaming lack of funding or that performing critical cold-weather actions to keep inmates healthy even if not comfortable, "wasn't contracted for".

There's a historic attitude amongst Texas officials about detainees - they love to ensure "them that's worthless" are properly punished, if not just disposed of outright as a waste of time and money.
It's almost as if it was a state primarily created by and for slave owners.