TDCJ requests $298M for prison AC upgrades as lawmakers weigh budget priorities - KCBD

The money would go toward the 90th Legislative Session budget, one of many requests state agencies are filing right now. TDCJ's ask comes tangled up with a lawsuit first filed in 2023 and expanded in 2024, which claims Texas prisoners are being "cooked to death" in units where temperatures hit or top 100 degrees. Most state prisons went up without the infrastructure to handle air conditioning in the first place, which is part of why this fight has dragged on for years.

TDCJ says it has tried to manage the heat problem already, adding cool beds and expansion dorms in facilities across the state. Prisoners' rights advocates argue that has not been enough. The pending court decision could force changes faster than the Legislature would otherwise move.

For people in Lubbock, this touches home more than it might seem. West Texas runs several TDCJ units, and summer heat here regularly pushes past 100 degrees, the same range cited in the lawsuit. Whatever lawmakers decide on funding, and whatever the judge rules, will shape conditions in facilities not far from town.