U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to immediately develop and implement a plan to install air conditioning throughout the state prison system, with the work required to be completed by Dec. 31, 2029. TDCJ has estimated that completing the project could cost roughly $1.5 billion.

The ruling affects a prison system with 104 facilities, but just over one-third were fully air-conditioned as of Sept. 1. TDCJ reported 53,676 cooled beds at that time and expects that number to exceed 61,000 by the end of the year and approach 90,000 by early 2028.

Pitman ruled that conditions in prisons without air conditioning violate the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. In his 150-page order, he said TDCJ's existing efforts to protect inmates from extreme heat were insufficient and criticized the agency for failing to commit to a timeline for completing the work.

The ruling creates a significant budget issue for the state. TDCJ's current legislative appropriations request includes $289 million specifically for prison air conditioning, along with $591.8 million for expansion dormitories with climate control. The agency says those proposals would create more than 21,000 additional cooled beds.

Pitman noted that the $289 million request is substantially below the $774.3 million TDCJ previously estimated it could obligate during the 2028-29 budget cycle under a two-phase plan. The second phase would have called for another $730.7 million in the following budget cycle. The judge said the difference raised questions about whether the agency was following through on the timeline it had presented to the court.

The case began with a 2023 complaint from inmate Bernie Tiede after he experienced a medical emergency that was attributed to extreme heat in his cell. Prisoner advocacy groups later joined the lawsuit, expanding it to cover people held throughout the state's uncooled prison facilities. Texas lawmakers have repeatedly considered legislation requiring climate control in state prisons, but those efforts have not become law. County jails, meanwhile, are required under state law to maintain temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees.

Heat-related deaths have been a central issue in the litigation. TDCJ has acknowledged that at least 23 inmates died from heat-related causes between 1998 and 2012, while Pitman has described that figure as likely an undercount. Prisoner advocates attribute at least 10 additional deaths in recent years to extreme heat, although TDCJ disputes that assessment and has argued that other medical conditions or drug overdoses could have contributed to some of the deaths.

TDCJ said it was reviewing the ruling and had not immediately provided further comment. Under Pitman's order, the agency must provide the court with progress reports every six months, beginning in March 2027, as Texas works toward the 2029 deadline.