Edwards Law
Texas must fully air-condition its prisons by the end of 2029, a federal judge ordered on Tuesday, saying the lack of cooling in most lockups in the sun-blasted state violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman was a major victory for prisoners’ rights advocates, who have complained for decades about poor conditions behind bars.
In his 150-page order, Judge Pitman, of the Western District of Texas, said that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, which operates the country’s largest prison system, had “failed to act with reasonable urgency or commitment to install air-conditioning.”
“In a state where outdoor heat indexes exceed 130 degrees, inmates in Texas prisons are suffering — and in some cases dying — in extreme heat every summer,” Judge Pitman wrote.