Texas is appealing a federal judge’s order that requires every state prison to be fully air-conditioned by the end of 2029, arguing the mandate would cost about $1.5 billion and disrupt operations.
U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman of the Western District of Texas issued the ruling Sept. 22 after a trial earlier this year. He found that extreme heat in uncooled facilities violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment and that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice had shown deliberate indifference by failing to move faster on cooling. As of Oct. 1, just over a third of the state’s 104 prisons were fully climate-controlled, leaving roughly 90,000 incarcerated people without air conditioning, according to The Texas Tribune.
The agency filed its notice of appeal Oct. 8 with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and asked Pitman to pause his order while the case continues. In court filings, the state said enforcing the timeline now would create “chaos and confusion,” interfere with ongoing cooling projects, and divert money from other priorities such as health care, contraband detection, and deferred maintenance.
TDCJ has said it intends to air-condition all prisons but has not set its own deadline and estimates the full project at $1.5 billion. The agency also disputed the judge’s finding of at least nine heat-related inmate deaths between 2023 and 2025, pointing to other factors such as underlying medical conditions.
Pitman’s order requires the department to submit progress reports every six months, beginning in March 2027, and states that financial considerations will not excuse noncompliance. The lawsuit began in 2023 with a complaint from an inmate who suffered a heat-related medical emergency; advocacy groups later joined and expanded it systemwide.
Plaintiffs’ attorney Erica Grossman said the agency should focus on making facilities more humane rather than fighting the ruling.
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