Every year, Texans suffer under severe high temperatures during the summer months (although some years the temperatures can begin to climb as early as March and not fall below 80 degrees F until well into November). Though Texas is not alone in enduring these high temperatures, it has been historically resistant to ensuring that the temperatures within TDCJ prisons remain in a sensibly tollerable range for staff and inmates alike.
Every year there is talk of how bad the conditions are, talk of court action to force TDCJ to keep the temperatures within its prisons at a sensibly tollerable level, and talk of deaths caused by the excessive heat. Equally there is talk from politicians along the lines of "plenty of people in Texas cannot afford A/C in their homes, so why should we favour inmates with it?"
Recently, the Human Rights Clinic at the University of Texas School of Law produced a report that studied the recorded temperatures at some TDCJ prisons, and highlighted the design and construction of TDCJ prisons as a contributing factor in the very high temperatures recorded within them. The full report can be read here:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6HJLeMEu3hlSWdBdGIzaXNmTm8/editSome TDCJ prisons do have air conditioning, either throughout the entire prison or in sections of it. The medical facilities usually have A/C.
High temperatures are not just an issue for inmates; the TDCJ staff must work in those conditions as well, in full uniform (inmates can usually stay in T-shirt and boxer shorts when the heat is very high), and moving around the unit. However, they are able to leave the prison after their shift, and usually do not have to sleep in high temperatures as well.
The Fifth Circuit court has ruled that TDCJ can be sued for not maintaining adequate temperature controls in its prisons, and a Federal Court ruling relating to similar conditions in Louisiana could be used as a precedent if TDCJ ever finds itself in court over this matter.
Senator John Whitmire has been quoted in the media as saying that the number of inmate deaths each year is acceptable and expected due to the overall inmate population.
The design and construction of many TDCJ units does not lend itself to heat regulation by air conditioners. The cost of installation, maintenance and running of air conditioner units would be huge, and would have to be paid by the tax payers of Texas, who are notorious in their aversion to any of their money being spent on TDCJ inmates (unless it is to pay for executions, and the financial recompence for wrongful convictions). So while the regulation of heat in TDCJ prisons is a valid issue, installing air conditioner units everywhere may not be the most sensible or desirable solution.