TDCJ adding air conditioning to more units following heat concerns

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AUSTIN (Nexstar) — Construction is underway on air conditioning projects in five additional facilities operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, intended to cool more inmates and guards after both groups have raised concerns about the conditions during Texas’ hot summer months.

The projects will cool an additional 2,149 beds, with another 11,565 eyed for 13 additional A/C projects currently in the “design” phase. But prison condition advocacy groups say its not enough.

“There’s no excuse. They have the ability now to put these A/Cs in,” said Tona Naranjo, whose son died in a Texas prison last year. “Doing just enough to push back the advocacy, to try to appease us, or the families that are involved, it’s wrong.

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Out of TDCJ’s current population of 132,481 people, 45,496 beds are in air conditioning, according to figures provided by the department. That means TDCJ has enough air conditioning for one in three inmates. About 25,000 inmates are housed in units with no air conditioning at all.

“The conditions inside TDCJ are inhumane,” Naranjo said. “People are going to continue to die at an all time high.”

In 2023, the legislature granted TDCJ a “historic infusion” of $85 million for repair and improvement projects. That money will add about 14,000 additional cooled beds — bringing the total percentage of inmates who could be cooled to about 45%.

Since 2018, the department has added a separate 8,433 cooled beds.

Dr. Amite Dominick, founder of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, says the state is not treating the issue with enough urgency.

“Texas has the money to do this, and they could do it if they want to do it,” Dominick said.

TDCJ correctional officers burning out in Texas heat

TDCJ spokesperson Amanda Hernandez said there is no estimated completion date for the current projects.

“We don’t know how many are going to die this summer,” Dominick added. “I’d like them to move as quickly as they would move if it was their loved one who was incarcerated.”

Advocates and families of incarcerated Texans held an informational session in Austin on Wednesday, intending to draw attention to the heat inside prisons they have previously called deadly.

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“I hope people take away the truth of what’s happening behind the prison walls,” Dominick said.

Additionally, Texas Prisons Community Advocates hosted a “mock cell” exhibition in partnership with the LBJ School’s Prison and Jail Initiative Lab at the Harry Ransom Center Wednesday afternoon.

“We need to understand that people in prisons are an incredibly vulnerable population,” said UT professor Michele Deitch. “For people who are incarcerated, and for people who work in those facilities, there’s no escaping the heat.”

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