Texas prisons are asking for $298 million for air conditioning — an amount that many argue still falls far short of what is necessary to keep people safe.
Here's what to know
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) is asking lawmakers for $298 million to add more than 15,700 air-conditioned prison beds to expand relief from dangerous extreme heat. Nearly two-thirds of the state's 104 prison facilities still lack full air conditioning.
The Texas Tribune reported that the agency said the request, together with a separate $591.8 million proposal for climate-controlled expansion dorms, could create more than 21,000 cooled beds.
Many believe that level of funding still does not match the size of the problem.
Inmate advocacy groups sued the state, seeking a court order to force Texas to air-condition its entire prison system by the end of 2029. U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman is deciding whether the state should be required to cool prisons that exceed 100 degrees indoors during the summer, having called those conditions "plainly unconstitutional," per The Texas Tribune.
More background
TDCJ disputes the lawsuit's claim that at least 10 inmates died from heat-related reasons during the summers from 2023 to 2025, saying those deaths were caused by drug overdoses or other medical conditions. Court documents do indicate that at least 23 people died from heat-related reasons in Texas prisons from 1998 to 2012.
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TDCJ has acknowledged more than 150 cases of heat-related illness among inmates and staff since 2022, while prisoners have filed thousands of heat-related grievances.
In a June court filing, TDCJ outlined a two-phase effort to air-condition every prison, with $774 million projected for the 2028–29 budget and another $730.7 million the following two years. However, TDCJ only requested $298 million for the next two-year budget, which inmate advocates see as the state still not treating the heat crisis as an emergency.
"This is more deliberate indifference," said Erica Grossman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, per The Texas Tribune. "And it will lead to more completely preventable inmate deaths in the extreme heat every year."
What's being done?
State prison leaders say air conditioning is only one of several demands on the budget, alongside health care, contraband detection, and a prison population that could top 150,000.
"We have to be good fiscal stewards," Executive Director Bobby Lumpkin said at trial, per The Texas Tribune.
The agency has also pointed to interim measures such as respite rooms, water, cold showers, cooling towels, fans, and a heat score system meant to identify people most vulnerable to heat illness. Advocates, however, argue those protections are inconsistent and temporary.
One major concern is access. Inmates must have less than $5 in their prison account for 180 days to qualify for a free fan. Charlie Malouff, vice president of Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants, said, "That's concerning."
Legislation requiring climate-controlled state prisons has repeatedly failed, even as the Legislature declined to use billions of dollars in budget surpluses and as the total cost of cooling all prisons is estimated at $1.5 billion.
"This only reinforces the need for a court order to fix this problem," Grossman said.
Where can I learn more?
Across Texas and beyond, advocates, tenants, and local officials are pushing back on policies that still treat cooling as a luxury.
• Advocates have been saying for years that cruel and unusual conditions in Texas prisons make deadly heat entirely foreseeable.
• Across the U.S., cooling is really not incorporated into habitability standards for many renters.
• In Texas, there aren't many renters' rights when landlords refuse basic air conditioning fixes.
• During a Texas heat wave in 2024, unlivable conditions without AC pushed one tenant to evacuate.
• In Houston this year, officials moved to require working A/C in rentals after a longstanding loophole.
Now, more and more people see access to cooling as a basic safety need, explaining why prison heat policy in Texas has become such a high-stakes legal and political fight.
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