Accountability.
AUSTIN, Texas — As the Texas Department of Criminal Justice asks state lawmakers for $298 million to add more than 15,700 air-conditioned beds, advocates say the request does little for inmates who don’t qualify for even the most basic heat relief the agency currently offers.
TDCJ says the funding — combined with a separate $591.8 million ask to build new climate-controlled expansion dorms — would add more than 21,000 cool beds and represents “significant and measurable progress.” But inmate advocates, including plaintiffs in an ongoing federal lawsuit, call the request a sign of “deliberate indifference” to conditions they say will require an estimated $1.5 billion to fully correct.
The funding debate comes as the case proceeds in federal court, where U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman ruled in March 2025 that housing Texas prison inmates in sweltering, uncooled facilities is “plainly unconstitutional.” Plaintiffs’ attorney Erica Grossman is seeking a court order forcing the state to air-condition its entire prison system by the end of 2029.
In the meantime, according to advocacy group Citizens United for the Rehabilitation of Errants (CURE), TDCJ requires an inmate’s prison account to hold less than $5 for 180 consecutive days before they qualify as indigent and become eligible for a free fan.