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Texas appeals order requiring air conditioning in all prisons

By
FOX Local
Texas
Published October 13, 2026 4:42 PM CDT
Published October 13, 2026 4:42 PM CDT
article

The Huntsville Unit prison in Huntsville, Texas, is seen on September 14, 2024. (Photo by FRANCOIS PICARD/AFP via Getty Images)

The Brief

    • Texas appealed a ruling requiring air conditioning in every state prison by Dec. 31, 2029, and asked the judge to pause the order during the appeal.
    • TDCJ said the 39-month timeline is not achievable because of old prison designs, the inmate population and budget limits. The agency estimates the project would cost about $1.5 billion.
    • U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ruled extreme heat in Texas prisons creates an unconstitutional risk under the Eighth Amendment. TDCJ currently has 38 fully air-conditioned and 53 partially air-conditioned prisons.

Texas has appealed a federal court's ruling that would require all state prisons to be air conditioned by the end of 2029.

The state's attorneys also asked U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to suspend his order during the appeal process, citing old prison designs and a high inmate population as "obstacles" to completing the order.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said installing air conditioning systemwide, but the court-imposed timeline of 39 months was not achievable. The agency also said it was limited by budget allocations, estimating that the project would cost around $1.5 billion.

What they're saying:

"Installing air conditioning in Texas prisons is expensive and funding for TDCJ’s operations is wholly dependent on biennial Legislative appropriations," court documents state. "TDCJ often experiences funding shortfalls that must be overcome."

As of Oct. 1, TDCJ says it has 38 fully air conditioned prisons and 53 partially air conditioned prisons. The Texas prison system, the largest in the U.S., operates 104 prisons and oversees around 144,000 inmates. The agency currently has almost 54,000 cool beds available and says another 23,738 are currently under construction.

Texas prisons without air conditioning violate the Eighth Amendment

In his Sept. 22 order, Pitman said extreme heat in the prisons poses an unreasonable risk of serious injury or death and that TDCJ’s current efforts to protect inmates are inadequate. The order affects tens of thousands of inmates and requires TDCJ to begin reporting its progress to the court next year.

Pitman said Texas prisons without air conditioning violate the Eighth Amendment, which protects against cruel and unusual punishment.

"The Eighth Amendment does not mandate prisons that are pleasant, or even comfortable—but it does mandate prisons that are not subjecting inmates to such intolerable conditions that they resort to soaking themselves in toilet water or starting fires in their own cell blocks to seek relief," Pitman wrote.

The prison agency must immediately create and implement a plan to add air conditioning to every TDCJ prison. The installation must be completed by Dec. 31, 2029.

The Source: Information in this article comes from court filings in District Court for the Western District of Texas. Background information on the court order to air condition all state prisons in Texas comes from previous FOX Local reporting.

TexasCrime and Public Safety