Judge Orders Texas to Install Air Conditioning in All Prisons by the End of 2029
· Telemundo McAllen (KTLM)
A federal judge ordered Texas on Tuesday to install air conditioning in all its prisons by the end of 2029, noting that inmates held in facilities without climate control are subjected to punishments that violate their constitutional rights. Activists who have fought for years for air conditioning in Texas prisons celebrated the ruling in a state where summer heat often exceeds 100 degrees Fahrenheit. District Judge Robert Pitman stated in the 150-page order that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice must immediately begin developing a plan for the installations. He determined that the lack of air conditioning violates the constitutional right against receiving 'cruel and unusual punishments.' 'Witnesses in this case who had been incarcerated in Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons without air conditioning described how they and other inmates became ill, fainted, and reached a level of desperation to cool off that made it 'common' for them to pour toilet water on themselves,' Pitman wrote in the ruling. 'These are not humane conditions.'
AI summary · Source: Telemundo McAllen (KTLM) →
