Texas Prison Heat Crisis Triggers Legal Battles Over Inmate Suffering

Texas’ prison system faces new wrongful death litigation and a pending federal case over deadly heat in unair-conditioned cells, as about 85,000 of its 141,000 inmates are housed without AC and interior temps can exceed 115F; advocates urge AC in all prisons within three years, a fix estimated at $1.3 billion funded via the state’s economic stabilization fund, while understaffing, water outages and alleged deliberate indifference are cited in the Coffield death of Jason Wilson and other heat-related concerns, with a court ruling in Austin anticipated in coming months.