Texas Department of Criminal Justice requests funds to cover cost of cooling state prisons

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) - The Texas Department of Criminal Justice is requesting the state legislature to allocate $298 million to over the next two years to add more than 1,500 air-conditioned beds. Prisoner rights advocates say it’s not enough and that inmates are dying in the Texas heat.

Air conditioning across state prisons

Out of 104 state prisons, 38 are fully air-conditioned. 53 are partially air-conditioned, and others lack air conditioning entirely. Court documents show that at least 23 people died from heat-related reasons in state prisons between 1998 and 2012.

Legislative efforts

State law requires county jails to be kept between 65 and 85 degrees. Multiple bills have been filed to hold state prisons to the same standard and to force the state to air condition its entire prison system by 2029, but all have died in the state Senate due to the high cost.

Cost to fully condition state prisons

Many state prisons don’t have the infrastructure needed for air conditioning, which is why most of the money granted in the past has gone to expansion dorms and cool beds. State officials say it would take about $1.5 billion to outfit the remaining unconditioned prisons. For now, TDCJ is separately requesting about $592 million to build new, climate-controlled expansion dorms. If approved, they would house more than 21,000 cool beds.