Texas prison system appeals federal mandate to install air conditioning by 2029

Texas officials have filed an appeal with the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to suspend U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman’s September ruling that all 104 Texas prisons must be equipped with air conditioning by the end of 2029. The appeal argues that implementing the order would jeopardize critical TDCJ operations and consume resources needed for other priorities, noting the agency estimates a $1.5 billion cost and has already cooled just over a third of its facilities, leaving about 90,000 inmates exposed to extreme heat.

The lawsuit, initially filed by inmate Bernie Tiede in 2023 and later joined by groups such as the Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, contends that the heat creates unconstitutional, cruel and unusual punishment, citing at least nine inmate deaths linked to high temperatures. Pitman’s decision described the TDCJ’s response as deliberate indifference and set the 2029 deadline at the plaintiffs’ request. TDCJ counters that meeting the deadline would divert funds from contraband detection, healthcare, and staffing, and claims the heat-related deaths involved other factors. The appeal arrives as the agency prepares its 2028-29 budget, requesting $774.3 million for climate control in one outlet cycle and an additional $730.7 million later, while also seeking a restoration of a 3 % spending cut that could affect over 1,300 jobs.