Advocates urge TDCJ board to seek emergency funding and timeline to cool unairconditioned prisons

Public commenters at the Texas Board of Criminal Justice meeting pressed the board on dangerous heat inside state prisons, urging immediate funding and a clear, public timeline to install additional air conditioning across un-air-conditioned housing.

Marcy Simmons, director of communications for Lioness Justice Impacted Women's Alliance, told the board that agency materials previously presented as a plan amounted to "a little bit more than swag" and that tens of thousands of people remain in un-air-conditioned housing. "Projections indicate it could take decades to fully air-condition Texas prisons at the rate we're going right now," Simmons said, adding that the pace risks "generations of trauma and heat-related illnesses and deaths." She recounted that an incarcerated member designated medically vulnerable had a "heat sensitivity" flag removed around the time she received a major disciplinary case; that disciplinary finding was later overturned, Simmons said.

Melissa Chapman Bell, who identified herself as a restrictive-housing wife and sister, urged the board to "direct the TDCJ executive director" to air-condition un-air-conditioned prisons without delay and to pursue an emergency declaration from the governor if needed. Citing what she described as precedent, Chapman Bell said emergency declarations have previously enabled procurement and temporary AC installation in less than 45 days. She also asked the board to require the agency to collect core-body temperatures during medical emergencies in institutions.

Speakers also disputed the agency framing of heat-related mortality. "Representatives of TDCJ recently suggested that only 0.07% of people have lost their lives to heat-related illnesses in the past three years," Simmons said. "We don't think of them as odds—there are family members here of that 0.07%. Even one preventable death caused by extreme temperature is worth the effort." The board responded by noting TDCJ planned a later presentation on current AC-installation projects, described by staff as adding so-called "cool beds," and pointed to a publicly available snapshot tracking installation pace.

The public remarks included a request that the board pursue full funding from the legislature, adopt measurable installation benchmarks the public can monitor, and use emergency-procurement authorities (citing Texas Government Code §418.016) to accelerate temporary cooling installations where appropriate. Advocates argued procurement could rely on licensed HVAC contractors already registered with state regulators, and that temporary measures could be installed quickly without legislative appropriation.

TDCJ representatives told the board they would present details on current and planned AC projects later in the meeting and maintain a public snapshot of installation progress. The board did not take a formal vote on any new directive during the meeting; several family members and advocates said they will follow up through the board's assistance desk and the agency's stakeholder processes.

The board's next step, according to remarks from the chair, was to include a presentation on ongoing installation projects later in the agenda so members and the public could review pace and procurement approaches.