7 OctOber 1 - 7, 2026 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Contents | Unfair Park | Culture | Dish | MusiC | ClassifieD In a statement to the Observer, a TDCJ spokesperson said the department “respect- fully disagrees” with Pittman’s ruling of delib- erate indifference and plans to appeal. “TDCJ has robust heat mitigation efforts in place to protect the safety of its population and staff,” the statement reads. “The agency continues improving heat mitigation mea- sures to ensure they are effective, consistent and ingrained in operations.” According to the department’s website, TDCJ has roughly 143,400 inmates in cus- tody as of Sept. 22 — more than any other state in the U.S. “This decision affirms what incarcerated people, their families, and our research have said for years: the extreme heat in Texas pris- ons is deadly, and air conditioning is the only real remedy,” Amite Dominick, founder and president of Texas Prisons Community Ad- vocates, wrote in a release. “The Court has now made clear that the state cannot keep treating human lives as a budget line. We will be watching every deadline in this order.” How we got here In 2025, Pitman ruled that conditions in- side Texas prisons were likely unconstitu- tional, but paused short of requiring temporary measures or AC installations pending the ruling of a wider case, which came Tuesday. The lack of AC inside Texas prisons has become a pressing issue as advocates push for humane treatment in recent years. Many older units are made of brick and lack func- tioning windows or air passages, essentially creating an oven during sweltering summer months, when heat indexes routinely stretch into triple digits. A 2022 Texas A&M study found that the heat index in one unit got as high as 149 degrees during a heatwave, while Pitman’s ruling cites sworn witness testi- mony “about inmates in the agency’s care having to cool themselves with toilet water to stay safe during extreme heat” as evidence of unsafe conditions in the system. According to a separate 2022 study, an es- timated 14 people die in Texas prisons each year on average. TDCJ has acknowledged at least 23 heat-related deaths from 1998 to 2012, although Pitman wrote that those num- bers are likely undercounts in his ruling. The ruling found that Texas prison officials over- looked heat as a contributing factor in death investigations and failed to provide critical information on heat conditions to medical examiners. In one instance, an inmate’s death certificate was altered more than a year after the autopsy to eliminate what has been likened to a mini-stroke as a cause of death. Pitman also ruled that officials had falsified temperature logs on multiple occasions. Advocates have pushed for various mea- sures in the last two decades, most often through the legal system. In 2014, inmates in the notoriously hazardous Wallace Pack Unit sued the state over the lack of air condi- tioning, which the state installed after set- tling the case in 2018. In 2023, an inmate named Bernie Tiede, the subject of the 2011 film “Bernie,” based on his murder case, sued the state after a medical emergency. That lawsuit was later consolidated with similar petitions by advocacy groups to cre- ate the case Pitman ruled on this week. ‘Not the same as relief in a cell’ The state has since made strides in pro- viding relief for some inmates. While legis- lation to address the issue has failed as lawmakers balk at costs — estimated at up to $1.5 billion to install AC in every unit — TDCJ has created more than 53,000 cool beds, or those with AC, according to its web- site. The agency has also announced plans to reach 90,000 beds by 2028, which would equal more than half of the projected total prison population at the time. However, backed by past statements from the chairman of the Texas Board that he would “respectfully disagree” with call- ing it a plan, Pitman ruled that the state’s phased initiatives to introduce tens of thousands of cool beds over the next five years were not organized endeavors, and even if they were, the state did not appear intent on pursuing them faithfully. He cited evidence that the agency has shuffled through multiple plans and failed to re- quest proper funding for its claimed efforts to support the ruling. He also found that the state’s mitigation measures, such as cold showers, fans, respite rooms and ice drinking water for inmates, were insufficient to offset the risk posed by heat. And for some prisoners, a true break from that heat may still be summers away. “An order on paper is not the same as re- lief in a cell,” Dominick wrote in the release. “Our work now is to make sure this timeline is met, that the Legislature funds it, and that no one else dies waiting for the state to do what the Constitution requires.” Provided by HBO Films Texas prisons, like this one in Hunstville, must have A/C by 2029. OCTOBER 15 • 6:30 PM D