Federal judge orders Texas to install air conditioning in all prisons by end of 2029

U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman has ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to install air conditioning in all state prisons by the end of 2029, ruling that exposing inmates to extreme summer heat violates the Eighth Amendment. The landmark decision, arising from a lawsuit initiated by inmate Bernie Tiede, impacts roughly 89,000 inmates currently housed without cooling. While the state estimated the upgrades will cost $1.5 billion, Judge Pitman ruled that financial considerations cannot excuse non-compliance.

Ruling on Cruel and Unusual Punishment

• ▪Judge Robert Pitman ruled that the lack of air conditioning in Texas prisons, where summer heat routinely exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit, violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
• ▪Judge Robert Pitman ruled that existing heat mitigation strategies, such as cold showers, drinking water, and respite rooms, are insufficient and show deliberate indifference to the dangers of extreme heat.

Court Mandate and Timeline

• ▪Judge Robert Pitman ruled that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice had failed to act with reasonable urgency, calculating that the state's current installation rate would take 23 years to complete.
• ▪U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on September 22, 2026, to install air conditioning in all of its prisons by the end of 2029.

Funding and Cost of Installation

• ▪Judge Robert Pitman rejected a two-phase state plan presented at trial to install air conditioning by 2031, noting that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice requested only $298 million of the $774.3 million required for the 2028-29 cycle
• ▪The Texas Department of Criminal Justice estimated that installing systemwide air conditioning across all state prisons would cost approximately $1.5 billion.
• ▪Judge Robert Pitman ordered that financial considerations will not be considered a legitimate reason for the state's failure to comply with the 2029 air conditioning installation deadline.

Heat-Related Inmate Deaths and Conditions

• ▪At the time of the trial in the Lumpkin lawsuit brought by Bernie Tiede, approximately 89,000 Texas inmates were housed in facilities without air conditioning, representing nearly two-thirds of the state's total inmate population
• ▪The Texas Department of Criminal Justice acknowledged that 23 inmates died from heat-related causes between 1998 and 2012, and acknowledged three additional heat-related deaths in 2023.
• ▪During the trial in the Texas prison air conditioning lawsuit, Texas state lawyers disputed testimony from two medical doctors who asserted that up to 10 inmates who died since 2023 would have likely survived if their facilities had air conditioning

Background of the Lawsuit

• ▪The Lumpkin lawsuit was initially filed in 2023 by incarcerated former mortician Bernie Tiede, before several prisoners' rights groups joined to expand the case into a statewide class action
• ▪The legal action, titled Texas Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants, Inc. v. Lumpkin, went to a bench trial in early 2026 before Judge Robert Pitman in the Western District of Texas.