A trial underway in an Austin federal court this week could decide whether Texas must provide air-conditioning in its prisons.<\/p>\n
For decades, lawyers for inmates have argued the conditions \u2014 which can reach 110 degrees<\/a> on some days \u2014 constitute cruel and unusual punishment<\/a> for people at state-run facilities. Now, a federal judge could force the state to provide air-conditioning to all of its roughly 130,000 inmates after a two-week trial.<\/p>\n Attorney Brandon Duke is one of a cadre of lawyers in court in Austin this week arguing the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is violating the Constitution. The agency has countered that<\/a>, arguing it’s bringing more AC online at prisons, but Duke says it’s not enough.<\/p>\n “The Constitution requires living conditions that are not exposing individuals to high heat levels, and the evidence has consistently shown that what TDCJ has done as an alternative has just not been effective,” he said. “It’s not a solution.”<\/p>\n U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, who\u2019s presiding over the case, has already signaled that those conditions \u2014 which the state prison system said has contributed to the deaths of \u00a0dozens of inmates since 1998<\/a> \u2014 are unconstitutional. <\/p>\n Pitman said as much in a ruling last year, but didn\u2019t rule outright<\/a>. Now, he\u2019ll decide the case from the bench after a two-week trial.<\/p>\n Plaintiffs attorneys say at least five inmates have died<\/a> in Texas because of heat-related illness since 2023. In the lawsuit, attorneys also allege the TDCJ has been ignoring \u2014 or even hiding<\/a> \u2014 some heat-related deaths in prisons.<\/p>\n The Texas Department of Criminal Justice wouldn\u2019t provide KUT News a comment for this story, but the agency’s current and former head have said<\/a> throughout the case that air conditioning would decrease deaths in Texas prisons.<\/p>\n TDCJ Executive Director Bobby Lumpkin said in a deposition last year that he agreed with Pitman\u2019s take on the situation.<\/p>\n According to the state’s records, temperatures inside cells during the summer regularly top 90 and even 100 degrees<\/a>.<\/p>\n ‘Competing priorities’<\/p>\n The problem, the agency argues, is funding. It would cost $1.5 billion<\/a> to install air-conditioning systems \u2014 and state lawmakers would need to approve a plan to bring AC into all of the state-run prisons. In the meantime, TDCJ says it\u2019s chipping away at bringing air-conditioning<\/a> online.<\/p>\n But Duke, a plaintiff\u2019s attorney, said the state is slow-walking that rollout.<\/p>\n “They’ve chosen basically the slowest, least efficient process that will take a significant number of years longer \u2026 to air condition the system,” Duke said.<\/p>\n The agency’s former head, Bryan Collier, said in court Tuesday that TDCJ can’t simply plop down a billion dollars to address the need. The state’s prison operator also has to contend with other issues it faces \u2014 security, the prevention of contraband, providing health services.<\/p>\n “It has been a priority,” Collier said. “But you have competing priorities.”<\/p>\n On top of that, there’s staffing. Corrections agencies across the country have seen their labor pools dry up in recent years. Sure, the job is demanding, Collier said, but he added he has only seen the agency at 100% staffing “one time” in his 40 years with TDCJ.<\/p>\n Attorneys say this case is novel. If Judge Pitman sides with plaintiffs, he could order Texas to provide air-conditioning at all its 100-plus prisons by 2029. Previous lawsuits have pushed<\/a> the state’s prison operator to require AC at some units \u2014\u00a0but not across the whole system.<\/p>\n Duke said other states are watching.<\/p>\n “This litigation serves as a model to address that same issue,” he said. “Because there are units in Louisiana that are un-air-conditioned, in Mississippi and several other states that get hot or could get equally as hot and are equally as dangerous.”<\/p>\n ‘Lingering cruelty’<\/p>\n