U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman has ordered the Texas Department of Criminal Justice to install air conditioning in every state prison by 2029.
“Witnesses in this case who had been incarcerated in un-air-conditioned Texas Department of Criminal Justice prisons described themselves and their fellow inmates getting sick, passing out, and reaching a level of desperation to cool off that made it ‘common’ to splash toilet water on themselves,” wrote the judge, who was nominated by Barry Obama. He said this violated the Eighth Amendment — which protects against cruel and unusual punishment.
The cost to taxpayers could be as high as $1.5 billion. Currently, a little over a third of prison facilities are air-conditioned.
“The agency [Texas Department of Criminal Justice] reported 53,676 cooled beds as of Sept. 1 and expects that figure to exceed 61,000 by year’s end and approach 90,000 by early 2028. The prison population is projected to exceed 150,000 by then,” Newsmax reports. “Texas requires county jails to maintain temperatures between 65 and 85 degrees.”
But this is not happening without air conditioning. How could it when summer temperatures in much of Texas hover in the 90s and sometimes reach the 100s? Sure, it’s a dry heat, but so is an oven.
“Court documents show that at least 23 people died of heat-related causes in Texas prisons between 1998 and 2012[.]” That the State allows such a thing to happen is obscene.
I agree with the judge. Once the State accepts responsibility for people, the State has a moral and legal obligation to treat them as humanely as possible. Not installing air conditioning in, of all places, Texas, is inhumane. Allowing people to suffer when we have the ability to ease that suffering is indefensible.
Listen, I’m pro-capital punishment or pro-lock-them-up-forever for criminals ranging from murderers to rapists to child abusers to career criminals. Once someone is legally convicted, especially of a violent crime, I want them put away for a very long time, if not forever. At the same time, too many of our prisons are a disgrace where sexual predators reign, and people are forced to live under intolerable conditions, much of it due to overcrowding.
We got them. They are locked up. Good enough, so go ahead and give them television, air conditioning, weights, decent food, and access to education. My argument is not just a humane one. Terrible conditions breed all kinds of resentments that make life harder and more dangerous for the prison staff.
I’m pro-prison. We should build lots and lots of prisons to lock away all the bad people. All I’m saying is to treat them decently. If you disagree with the judge, think about it as Blue-on-Blue infighting. All this air conditioning … the enviro-nuts can’t be happy.
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