Prison rights advocates have filed a complaint against Texas Department of Criminal Justice, saying that the lack of air conditioning in most Texas prisons amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.
The filing on Monday came as four nonprofit organizations joined the original lawsuit, which was filed in August 2022 by convicted murderer Bernie Tiede, an inmate at Huntsville. The filing expands the plaintiffs to include every inmate incarcerated in uncooled Texas prisons.
According to court documents, the plaintiffs are requesting that an Austin federal judge declare the state’s prison policy unconstitutional and require that prisons be kept under 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Texas jails are already required to keep facilities cooler than 85 degrees, and federal prisons in Texas have a 76degree maximum.
About two thirds of the inmates housed across TDCJ’s facilities live in areas without air conditioning.
Although the state has not reported a heat-related death since 2012, researchers and inmates’ families dispute those statistics. A 2022 study found that 14 prison deaths per year were associated with heat.
According to a TDCJ spokesperson, the department has been adding air conditioning units since 2018, as well as cool beds.