Federal Court Orders Air Conditioning in Every Texas Prison, Finding Extreme Heat Conditions Unconstitutional

AUSTIN, Texas A federal judge has ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to install air conditioning in every Texas prison, ruling that the conditions in the state's un-air-conditioned facilities violate the Eighth Amendment rights of everyone confined in them. In a decision issued today, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman of the Western District of Texas found that TDCJ's current response to extreme heat is legally insufficient and ordered that installation be completed no later than December 31, 2029.

The ruling comes in Texas Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, Inc., et al. v. Lumpkin (No. 1:23-CV-1004-RP), a case in which Texas Prisons Community Advocates (TPCA) is a named plaintiff. It follows an eight-day bench trial held from March 30 through April 9, 2026.

“This decision affirms what incarcerated people, their families, and our research have said for years: the extreme heat in Texas prisons is deadly, and air conditioning is the only real remedy,” said Dr. Amite Dominick, Founder and President of Texas Prisons Community Advocates and lead of the 85 to Stay Alive Campaign. “The Court has now made clear that the state cannot keep treating human lives as a budget line. We will be watching every deadline in this order.”

What the Court Ordered

The Court entered declaratory and injunctive relief holding that:

• The conditions of confinement in TDCJ's un-air-conditioned prisons violate the Eighth Amendment rights of all people confined in those facilities, and TDCJ's current heat response is insufficient to remedy that violation.

• TDCJ must immediately develop and implement a plan to install air conditioning in every Texas prison, with installation completed no later than December 31, 2029.

• TDCJ must submit status reports to the Court every six months, with the first report due on or before March 22, 2027, describing its plan, the phases of construction, procurement, and design, and the amounts it intends to request from the Legislature to fund each stage.

• Financial considerations will not be accepted as a legitimate reason for failing to comply with the order.

• Because the constitutional violation is system-wide, the Court held that nothing short of system-wide relief will suffice.

The Findings Behind the Order

The Court found that nearly 90,000 people were held without air conditioning this past summer, in a state where outdoor heat indexes near TDCJ units have reached as high as 131 to 134 degrees.

It found that a heat index of 88 degrees or higher poses a serious risk of adverse health outcomes to any person, and that air conditioning is the only measure that actually removes the heat. The Court quoted Director Lumpkin's own testimony that air conditioning is the only effective protection from the extreme heat.

The Court also documented multiple heat-related deaths, including Jason Wilson, a TPCA core team member who died in July 2024 at the un-air-conditioned Coffield Unit and whose death plaintiffs' medical experts concluded was heat-related.

The decision found serious problems with TDCJ's own records. The Court concluded that TDCJ presented fabricated temperature logs, that an internal investigation found numerous logs falsified, and that TDCJ never explained the falsification or disciplined the responsible administrators. The Court further found that TDCJ underreported heat-related deaths and illnesses to the Texas Legislature, including reporting zero heat-related deaths in 2025.

The Court credited TPCA's daily work with incarcerated constituents and the testimony of Dr. Dominick, who has advocated for air conditioning in TDCJ facilities since 2015, eight years before the lawsuit was filed.

What Comes Next

TDCJ's first compliance plan is due to the Court by March 22, 2027. The 85 to Stay Alive Campaign and its national coalition will continue pressing for enforceable heat and cold standards in the Texas Legislature, whose 90th session opens January 12, 2027, and will monitor TDCJ's progress against the Court's deadline.

“An order on paper is not the same as relief in a cell,” Dr. Dominick said. “Our work now is to make sure this timeline is met, that the Legislature funds it, and that no one else dies waiting for the state to do what the Constitution requires.”

About Texas Prisons Community Advocates and 85 to Stay Alive

Texas Prisons Community Advocates (TPCA) is a nonprofit organization advocating for the health, safety, and dignity of incarcerated people in Texas. Its 85 to Stay Alive Campaign and National Coalition advocate for an enforceable 85 degree heat index standard in prisons and jails to protect people from both extreme heat and extreme cold, grounded in peer-reviewed research and federal litigation.

Media Contact

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