Federal judge orders air conditioning to be installed at all Texas prisons – Spectrum News

Federal judge orders air conditioning to be installed at all Texas prisons  Spectrum News

Texas is known for its hot summers, which is why there has long been a call for all Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities to have AC. TEXAS — A federal judge recently ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) to install air conditioning in all its facilities by the end of 2029. This has been met with praise from advocates and those who have been incarcerated. However, the department disagrees with the judge’s ruling. Texas is known for its hot summers, which is why there has long been a call for all TDCJ facilities to have AC. Amite Dominick, the founder and president of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, has been advocating for this for years.

She explained to Spectrum News the evidence her organization presented as a plaintiff in a lawsuit over a lack of air conditioning in Texas prisons. “Our study done with Dr. Carlee Purdum, looking at the surveys of incarcerated individuals and the heat and mortality work that we did with Dr. Julie Skarha, and those pieces became foundational pieces of the lawsuit,” Dominick said. “We’d also done other things like gathering temperature logs and other research items.” Recently, federal Judge Robert Pitman sided with the plaintiffs, writing in his ruling, “TDCJ’s un-air-conditioned prisons violate the Eighth Amendment,” which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. Spectrum