Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by end of 2029

Overview

Updated Yesterday

A federal judge has ordered Texas to install air conditioning in every state prison by the end of 2029. The ruling, issued Sept. 22, follows a three-year lawsuit over summer heat that advocates said pushed heat indexes past 130 degrees in some units.

Judge Robert Pitman found the conditions violate the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment and warned that cost is no excuse for missing the deadline. Texas puts the price at up to $1.5 billion and plans to appeal; just over a third of the state's 104 lockups are fully air-conditioned today.

Why it matters

If the order holds, Texas must spend up to $1.5 billion cooling a prison system projected to hold 150,000 inmates by 2028.

Questions about this story

Free account needed to ask — your question is kept and asked for you right after sign-up. Answers are public.

No questions yet — be the first to ask.

Key Indicators

$1.5B

Estimated cost to air-condition all prisons

TDCJ's cost estimate for full systemwide cooling, cited in court filings.

53,676

Cool beds as of Sept. 1, 2026

TDCJ expects the figure to top 61,000 by year-end and reach 90,000 by 2028.

~35%

Facilities fully air-conditioned

Just over a third of TDCJ's 104 facilities as of Sept. 1, 2026.

150,000

Projected prison population by 2028

State projection cited during the litigation.

Dec. 31, 2029

Court-ordered compliance deadline

Judge Pitman set this as the date by which air conditioning must be installed in every prison.

Voices

Curated perspectives — historical figures and your fellow readers.

Ever wondered what historical figures would say about today's headlines?

People Involved

Robert Lee Pitman

U.S. District Judge, Western District of Texas

Presiding judge; issued the Sept. 22 order

Bobby Lumpkin

Executive Director, Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Named defendant; agency is appealing

Bernhardt Tiede II

Plaintiff; filed the 2023 lawsuit

Incarcerated; plaintiff in the class action

Organizations Involved

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

State Agency

Defendant; appealing the Sept. 22 order

The state agency that runs Texas's prison system and is appealing the air-conditioning order.

Texas Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants

Advocacy Organization

Lead plaintiff in the class action

Prisoner advocacy group that joined the heat suit as a named plaintiff.

Timeline

May 2023 September 2026

8 events Latest: 3 days ago

Tap a bar to jump to that date

September 2026
Judge orders systemwide air conditioning
Latest Legal

Pitman issues 150-page order requiring air conditioning in every Texas prison by Dec. 31, 2029.
3 days ago
State announces appeal
Statement

TDCJ says it will appeal, disputing the deliberate-indifference finding.
3 days ago
Cool bed count reported
Data

TDCJ reports 53,676 cool beds; just over a third of 104 facilities fully air-conditioned.
September 1st, 2026
August 2026
Agency funding request revealed
Funding

TDCJ requests $289 million for air conditioning, less than its own plan said it could spend.
August 28th, 2026
March 2026
Trial held
Legal

Ten-day trial on prison heat opens before Judge Robert Pitman in Austin.
March 1st, 2026
June 2025
Larger cooling investment
Funding

Texas approves more than $400 million for air-conditioned expansion dorms and to buy a climate-controlled lockup.
June 1st, 2025
June 2023
Heat lawsuit filed
Legal

Inmate Bernhardt Tiede II and prisoner advocates sue TDCJ over extreme summer heat.
June 1st, 2023
May 2023
First cooling funding approved
Funding

Texas legislators appropriate $85 million toward prison air conditioning.
May 26th, 2023

Scenarios

Fifth Circuit blocks the air-conditioning order

Possible Resolves by Q2 2027

Discussed by: TDCJ and its attorneys; plaintiffs' counsel said an appeal could delay implementation by at least a year

TDCJ will likely first seek a stay of Pitman's order while the appeal proceeds before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. Plaintiffs' attorneys have said they will fight any stay. If the appeals court grants one or overturns the deliberate-indifference finding, the 2029 deadline could collapse or slip by years.

Texas installs air conditioning in all prisons by 2029

Possible Resolves by End of 2029

Discussed by: Plaintiffs' attorneys and prison-reform advocates who brought the case

If the appeal fails or resolves quickly, TDCJ would need roughly $1.5 billion from the Legislature and must finish installation by Dec. 31, 2029. Pitman wrote that financial considerations will not excuse noncompliance and ordered status reports every six months. Full compliance would require the 2027 and 2029 legislative sessions to fund the work at levels far above the current request.

Order stands, but Texas misses the 2029 deadline

Likely Resolves by End of 2029

Discussed by: Observers citing Texas's decade of failed prison-cooling funding bills

State lawmakers repeatedly declined to fund systemwide air conditioning, and TDCJ's own 2026 appropriations request fell short of the $774.3 million it told the court it could spend in the next budget cycle. Even with the order in place, funding gaps or appeal delays could push full installation past 2029, setting up contempt proceedings or a follow-up lawsuit. Pitman has not yet appointed a monitor but said he could.

Historical Context

3 moments from history that rhyme with this story — and how they unfolded.

November 1976

Estelle v. Gamble (1976)

Inmate J.W. Gamble, a Texas prisoner hurt on a work detail, argued officials were deliberately indifferent to his medical needs. The Supreme Court ruled that such indifference to a prisoner's serious illness or injury violates the Eighth Amendment.

Then

Gave inmates a federal cause of action for medical neglect and set the deliberate-indifference test.

Now

Became the yardstick for prisoner conditions cases, including heat claims.

Why this matters now

Pitman applied exactly this standard, finding TDCJ's heat response deliberately indifferent.

December 1980

Ruiz v. Estelle (1980)

Federal judge William Wayne Justice found Texas's entire prison system violated the Eighth Amendment through overcrowding, violence and poor conditions, and placed it under federal oversight.

Then

Texas prisons ran under federal consent decrees for decades, capping inmate populations and forcing reforms.

Now

Showed a single federal ruling can compel broad changes to Texas prisons despite state resistance.

Why this matters now

The heat case repeats that pattern: a federal judge ordering systemwide reform over state objections about cost and authority.

May 2011

Brown v. Plata (2011)

The Supreme Court, 5-4, ordered California to cut its prison population by tens of thousands, finding overcrowding denied inmates adequate medical and mental-health care.

Then

California shifted inmates to county jails and built new facilities over years, at a cost of billions.

Now

Established that federal courts can order expensive systemic changes to state prisons when violations persist.

Why this matters now

Like this order, Plata forced a state to fund sweeping prison reform it had long resisted, with cost not accepted as an excuse.