US federal judge finds extreme heat in Texas prison unconstitutional News
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US federal judge finds extreme heat in Texas prison unconstitutional

US District Judge Robert Pitman on Wednesday held Wednesday that the extreme heat in Texas prisons is “plainly unconstitutional” while denying a temporary injunction request to install air conditioning in the prisons.

According to the court, “Texas has more than 130,000 people serving time in prisons, more than any state in the US. Only about a third of roughly 100 prison units are fully air-conditioned and the rest have either partial or no electrical cooling.”

The plaintiffs are Texas prisoner Bernhardt Tiede, II, and four prisoner rights and civil rights advocacy organizations on behalf of their members. They argue that the heat policy of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and defendant Bryan Collier as its executive director violates the US Constitution’s Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. The plaintiffs argue that the heat policy allows Texas prisons to become deadly and seriously injurious by reaching above 85°F near-daily during the summertime when Texas requires jails to be maintained at 65°F to 85°F.

The TDCJ’s heat mitigation measures include a “heat score system, access to cooled respite areas, distribution of water and ice, cool showers, and fans.” The court found these mitigation measures ineffective since they are not permanent. Further, more than 90 percent of TDCJ prisoners do not have a heat score, including 66-year-old plaintiff Tiede. He suffers from “acute or subacute” stroke in his thalamus, “COPD, diabetes, hypertension, and bleeding on his right retina.”

However, the court did not grant the plaintiffs’ requested temporary injunction on Collier to install air conditioning in the prisons because it “would involve a different design and construction process.” The court views the Texas legislature’s recent introduction of bills HB2997 and HB1315 and their enforcement mechanism of a 65°F to 85°F temperature mandate as indicating the plaintiffs’ ability to have prison air conditioning installations.

The court also commented that Collier, his predecessors, and the TDCJ have been subject to numerous lawsuits for the past twenty-five years for extreme heat-related death and serious illness, including a suit seven years ago where Judge Ellison held that many of Collier’s mitigation measures were ineffective. The court warns Collier that “it foresees Plaintiffs being entitled to permanent relief in the form of expeditious installation of permanent air conditioning in all TDCJ facilities. Collier is implored to take the necessary steps to be prepared for this result.”

The Texas Tribune reported that a TDCJ spokesperson shared in an emailed statement that the TDCJ “appreciates and respects” the court’s decision to not require immediate installation of air conditioning.

According to AP News, Louisiana, Georgia and New Mexico are also facing lawsuits over prison conditions due to hot weather.

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