Judge orders Texas to have air conditioning at all prisons by end of 2029

On Tuesday, a federal judge ruled that the state of Texas must install air conditioning in all of its prisons by the end of 2029. The judge, Robert Pitman, stated that inmates in un-air-conditioned facilities were being subjected to punishments violating their constitutional rights. Inmates reported getting sick, fainting, and feeling desperate to cool off, sometimes by splashing toilet water on themselves.

Pitman found that the lack of air conditioning in Texas prisons is unconstitutional. The systemwide air conditioning would cost approximately $1.5 billion. Several prisoners' rights groups joined the lawsuit that began in 2023, including a former mortician whose murder case inspired the movie "Bernie." The judge acknowledged 23 heat-related deaths in Texas prisons between 1998 and 2012 and three additional deaths in 2023.