A federal judge has decided not to order temporary air conditioning be installed in all Texas prisons, allowing a lawsuit against the state to move forward while admitting that the problem will be costly to fix.
In an order issued late Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Robert Pitman agreed inmates who sued the state could win their case once it moves ahead and said the conditions behind bars are unconstitutional.
“The Court is of the view that excessive heat is likely serving as a form of unconstitutional punishment,” Judge Robert Pitman wrote in an order issued late Wednesday.
“Regrettably, the Court must also acknowledge that it will take hundreds of millions, if not billions, of dollars to install permanent air conditioning in every [prison] facility, and that ordering temporary air conditioning now would have the effect of diverting significant limited resources.”
While the plaintiffs did not win this initial round, the case will proceed to a trial. Pitman told both sides to suggest next steps by April 10.
Most of the inmates incarcerated in the approximately 100 state-run jails or prisons live without A/C.
Temperatures inside the cells during the summer months regularly top 90 and even 100 degrees, according to the state’s own records.
This lawsuit was filed by inmate Bernie Tiede and criminal justice groups who say the heat behind bars amounts to cruel and unusual punishment and is resulting in death and illness among incarcerated people.
The state prison department has acknowledged that at least three incarcerated people may have died from the heat last summer, and that it is the fifth leading cause of serious injury among staff. But the state denies the conditions are unconstitutional and says the Texas Legislature has not allocated the millions of dollars needed to install A/C systemwide.