AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday discovered the extreme heat in Texas prisons was “clearly unconstitutional,” but refused to order the state to immediately begin installing air conditioners, which could cost billions of dollars.
The judge supported the allegations brought by advocates for those incarcerated in a state where summer heat is rising above 100 degrees Fahrenheit. However, they must continue to extend their case later in the trial.
The lawsuit was originally filed in 2023 by Bernie Thierde. Bernie Thiede is serving a life sentence that influenced the film “Berney.” Several prisoner rights groups asked him to take part in his legal battle and expand it.
The lawsuit argues that the fever at state facilities amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, and seeks to force the state to install air conditioners.
Jeff Edwards, the lead lawyer for prisoners and supporters, called the judge’s order a victory, even if it didn’t require immediate revision.
“We proved our case,” Edwards said. “The court has made it very clear that what the state is doing is unconstitutional and risks the lives of those they are supposed to protect… this is step one to change the Texas prison system.”
Edwards said his supporters would promote prisoner relief as soon as possible. “We cannot protect them with temporary relief this summer, but we will move as quickly as possible,” he said.
More than 130,000 people spend their time in prisons in Texas, with only about a third of the prison units, of about a third of the US prison units, and the rest are completely air-conditioned, with no partial or electrical cooling.
“This case relates to the obviously unconstitutional treatment of some of our society’s most vulnerable and marginalized members,” US District Judge Robert Pittman wrote in his ruling on the AA’s temporary injunction request. “The court believes that excessive fever is likely to serve as a form of unconstitutional punishment.”
But the judge said he ordered the state to spend “to install permanent air conditioning in everything (the prison) if not hundreds of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars.”
It takes months to install temporary air conditioners and even delay permanent solutions, the judge wrote.
Pittman said he hopes the case will go on trial and prisoner advocates can continue to argue their case.
He also warned the state that they are likely to win a trial and that the state could face an order to install air conditioners.
The judge also said the state legislature, which writes a two-year state budget during the session until May, is considering a bill that requires air conditioning in prisons.
But the majority of Republican Congress has heard complaints about the extreme heat of prisons for years and has not addressed the issue. In 2018, the state was ordered to install air conditioners in units for elderly and medically vulnerable prisoners.
Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
Texas is not just facing a lawsuit over a dangerous, hot prison. Lawsuits have also been filed in Louisiana and New Mexico. A person filed in Georgia in July claimed that the man died in July 2023 after being left outdoor phones for hours without water, shade or ice.
A November 2022 survey by researchers at Brown, Boston and Harvard University found that between 2001 and 2019, 13% (271) of Texas prisons without universal AC can be attributed to extreme heat. Prisoner advocates say these numbers are likely to increase as the nation faces more extreme weather and heat due to climate change.
At last year’s hearing, previous incarcerated people testified about their experiences in hot prison buildings, which stated temperatures exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit.
They testified that some inmates pour toilet water on themselves to cool down and fake suicide attempts to move to cool medical areas, or that they deliberately set fires to force security guards to hose the cells.
“It’s sad that federal courts need to come in and change things,” Edwards said Wednesday. “This is 2025, not a Spanish galley in the 1600s.”
Brian Collier, director of the Texas Criminal Justice, admits that it was the cause of three deaths from multiple causes in 2023, and prison staff and inmates can get sick from high temperatures.
However, the state challenges the deaths of hundreds of people claimed by prison advocates, claiming that Texas is implementing effective heat mitigation measures, including providing access to “rest” areas for fans, towels and coolers.
Collier also insisted that air conditioners should be installed throughout the prison system, but the state legislator has never agreed to spend enough money to do so.
