Florida's Death Row inmates have filed a class action lawsuit in protest of the excessive temperatures in their cells.

The inmates say "temperatures routinely top 100 degrees in their cells, forcing them to stand in toilets, drape themselves in wet towels and sleep naked on concrete floors." The inmates and their lawyers say the "dungeon like conditions" violate the 8th Amendment ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The suit was filed in 2000. A federal judge has toured the prison and indicated he will rule "later this year."

The state's response: No hurry, it borders on a frivolous lawsuit, no need to turn the temperature down in there.

But "court documents show 30 prisoners sought medical treatment from June through September 2000 and 18 for the same period in 2001 for symptoms of faintness, nausea, headache, apprehension, dizziness, irritability, weakness, unsteady gait, or excessive thirst and hunger."

"It's just a matter of time before someone dies," said one lawyer.

We agree with the prisoners' contention, "Subjecting inmates, who are confined in their cells nearly all the time, to temperatures almost always in excess of 90 degrees, frequently in excess of 100 degrees, and as high as 110 degrees, can only be called physically barbarous."

How about fans as temporary relief? No, the state says "the electrical system could not support 300 individual fans."