Texas Prisons Face Trial over Lack of Air Conditioning

The trial over insufficient air conditioning in Texas prisons is slated to start Monday in Austin. 

The proceeding comes over a year after U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman said in a groundbreaking, 91-page ruling that housing Texas prison inmates in sweltering facilities that lack air conditioning is “plainly unconstitutional.” Pitman declined last March to order the Texas Department of Justice to immediately install temporary or permanent air conditioning, instead forcing the plaintiffs to move towards a trial. 

At the time of the initial ruling, Marci Marie Simmons, who was previously incarcerated and is among the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, called the decision a win and said she hopes it pushes state lawmakers to fund prison air conditioning.

“This is a federal judge saying Texas is unconstitutionally housing people in these dangerous and deadly temperatures,” Simmons said. “I cried. I cried for my people on the inside.” 

A TDCJ spokesperson said then that the agency “appreciates and respects” the federal court’s decision to not require immediate installation of air conditioning.

“TDCJ is fully committed to the safety of the inmate population and our staff, and that commitment is reflected in TDCJ’s ongoing efforts to install air conditioning, identify inmates who are heat sensitive, and implement heat mitigation protocols,” the statement read. “TDCJ also very much appreciates the past and planned support of the Legislature in making funding available to continue TDCJ’s ongoing installation of air conditioning in more units and housing areas throughout the TDCJ system.”

The state Legislature again failed last year to pass any legislationrequiring air conditioning in all Texas prisons, but lawmakers did provide $118 million for its installation. TDCJ said the funding will add 18,000 additional cool beds.

As of March 25, TDCJ reported that there are 52,438 cool beds available. Meanwhile, 12,584 cool beds are under construction and another 18,922 are in procurement, the agency says. 

The background: More than 80,000 Texas prison inmates reside in facilities that do not have air conditioning in most living areas. During the summer, high temperatures can create dangerous conditions that have been exacerbated in recent years by climate change.

At least 23 individuals died from heat-related causes in TDCJ prisons between 1998 and 2012, according to court documents. According to a 2022 study, 14 prison deaths per year are associated with the heat. And a Texas Tribune analysis found that at least 41 people died in uncooled prisons during a record-breaking heat wave in 2023.

Autopsy reports for several prisoners who died in uncooled cells mention heat as a possible cause of death, KUT reported. But a criminal justice agency spokesperson told the news organization that underlying medical conditions, not heat, caused those deaths. During an August 2024 court hearing, prison officials admitted that extreme heat contributed to those inmates’ deaths but said heat was not the only culprit.

Inmates have previously sued the state agency over the extreme heat in uncooled cells. In 2018, the agency reached a settlement in a class action lawsuit and agreed to install air conditioning in one notoriously hot prison called the Wallace Pack Unit, a geriatric prison. Sick or elderly prisoners were also moved into cool housing.

Already, Texas law requires county jails to be kept between 65 and 85 degrees. Other facilities, such as animal shelters, also have heat rules.

State lawmakers did not put any money directly towards air conditioning prisons in 2023, when they had a $32.7 billion budget surplus. The Texas House had budgeted $545 million for prison air conditioning but the more conservative Senate offered nothing.

The state did allocate $85 million to the TDCJ that year, and the agency is using that money to pay for air conditioning units. That money will help about 10,000 inmates move into air conditioned facilities. 

Why advocate groups sued: In April 2024, four nonprofit organizationsjoined a lawsuit originally filed in August 2023 by Bernie Tiede, an inmate who was housed in a Huntsville cell where temperatures exceeded 110 degrees. The new filing expanded the plaintiffs to include every inmate incarcerated in uncooled Texas prisons.

Lawyers and advocates said they hoped to prove the lack of air conditioning created conditions that amount to unconstitutionally cruel and unusual punishment.

“What we are doing is overheating the body for long periods of time which is detrimental to the body…. we’re literally cooking them,” said Amite Dominick, founder of Texas Prison Community Advocates, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuits. “People don’t live when you cook them.”

Dominick and others also argue that the measures the state has taken to respond to the heat, such as giving inmates access to cold towels and respite areas, are insufficient.

Ahead of the trial, Pitman has dismissed some plaintiffs from the case. The removals include Tiede because of a TDCJ heat score policy update prioritizing inmates who are 65 and older access to an air-conditioned bed, Pitman wrote in a March 16 order. Tiede is 67 years old, according to the document.   

What the state says: The agency estimates that installing permanent air conditioning in every unit would cost more than $1.1 billion and would come with an annual operating cost of close to $20 million, according to court documents.

During a hearing, former TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier said he wants to install air conditioning in every prison but that he simply doesn’t have the funds to do so. Bobby Lumpkin, TDCJ’s former chief operations officer, took over as the agency’s leader in September after Collier’s retirement and has been added as a lawsuit defendant. 

Prison leaders have also pointed to their “heat protocols,” such as allowing inmates access to cool respite areas, making electrolytes, water and ice readily available, and training correctional staff on the signs and treatment for heat-related illness.

Heat mitigation policies are inadequate, Pitman said, evidenced by the fact that “dozens” of inmates have died or fallen ill because of extreme heat even with those measures in place.

Inmates are also screened for medical conditions that would make them more sensitive to the heat. Those with heat sensitivity get priority placement for air-conditioned housing, a TDCJ spokesperson said. As of early August 2024, more than 12,000 inmates had a heat sensitivity score, the spokesperson said.

Pitman said in his 2025 ruling that such measures are arbitrary, citing examples of individuals who would not qualify for a heat score despite their medical condition, including “a 90-year-old with hypertension” and someone who has a seizure disorder. Only about 10% of Texas prison inmates have a heat score, even though all of the roughly 134,500 people incarcerated in them face “a substantial risk of serious harm from the extreme heat in unair-conditioned facilities,” Pitman wrote.

Broader impact: Lawsuits about heat in state prisons have also been filed in other southern states including Louisiana and Georgia. If Texas is ultimately required to air condition its prisons, the state agency will face a large cost that lawmakers have previously not approved.

This story was originally published on Texas Tribune on March 27th, 2026.