Extreme Heat Inside Texas Prisons Poses Deadly Risk, New Analysis Finds

A new analysis has found that temperatures inside Texas prison facilities reach dangerous, potentially lethal levels, adding fresh data to a long-running debate over whether the state is meeting its basic duty of care to incarcerated people. The findings come as Texas remains one of the few states that has not mandated air conditioning across its entire prison system, leaving tens of thousands of inmates vulnerable to heat-related illness and death during the state’s increasingly brutal summers.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice operates dozens of facilities across the state, many of which were built decades ago without climate control infrastructure. Advocacy groups and inmates’ families have long raised alarms about conditions inside these units, pointing to a documented history of heat-related deaths. Despite court battles and repeated calls from health experts and civil rights organizations, TDCJ has resisted sweeping air conditioning mandates, citing cost concerns and arguing that existing heat mitigation measures — such as fans, cold water, and cooling stations — are sufficient to protect the population.

Medical professionals and public health researchers have consistently pushed back on that position. Extreme heat is particularly dangerous for elderly inmates, those with chronic health conditions, and individuals taking certain medications, all populations well-represented inside Texas prisons. Internal temperatures in non-air-conditioned units have been recorded soaring well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit during peak summer months, conditions that experts say no heat mitigation protocol can fully offset.

The new analysis is expected to add momentum to ongoing legislative and legal efforts to force the state’s hand on the issue. Lawmakers have introduced bills in previous sessions requiring air conditioning in Texas prisons, though none have successfully cleared the full Legislature. Families of inmates who have died during heat events have pursued litigation against the state, with some cases resulting in settlements or judicial findings critical of TDCJ’s heat policies.

As Texas summers grow longer and hotter due to climate change, the pressure on state officials to act is intensifying. Critics argue that housing people in conditions that routinely endanger life — regardless of the offense that led to incarceration — amounts to cruel and unusual punishment. For the families waiting on the other side of those walls, the question is not political. It is a matter of whether their loved ones will survive another Texas summer.