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Texas Prison Heat Declared Unconstitutional
Loaded on May 1, 2025
published in Prison Legal News
May, 2025, page 57
Filed under:
Eighth Amendment,
Exposure to Heat,
Preliminary Injunctions/TRO's,
Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
Location:
Texas.
In a ruling on March 26, 2025, the federal court for the Western District of Texas agreed that the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) was likely violating the Eighth Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment by holding most state prisoners in cells that are not air-conditioned. However, …
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More from this issue:
- $1.2 Million in Settlements Reached in Suit Over Sacramento Jail Murder, by Douglas Ankney
- Multitudes Caged for Failure to Pay Child Support, Driving Mass Incarceration, by Matthew Clarke
- From the Editor, by Paul Wright
- Florida’s “Pay to Stay” Law: A Second Sentence for Former Prisoners
- Fifth Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to Louisiana Officials Who Forced Prisoner to Work with Broken Surgical Screws in Ankle, by Anthony Accurso
- Study Finds Just 1% of Prisoner’s Eighth Amendment Claims Succeed
- Incarcerated Students Caught in Crosshairs of Trump War on Education Department
- Disbarred Cincinnati Defense Attorney Who Defrauded Prisoner Clients Gets Three-Year Sentence
- Wisconsin Prisoner Inhaled His Own Teeth in Fatal Beatdown
- South Carolina Conducts First U.S. Execution by Firing Squad in 15 Years
- Eleventh Circuit Revives Volunteer Pastor’s First Amendment Claim at Georgia Jail, by Douglas Ankney
- Trump Guts BOP Guard Union
- Los Angeles County Jails Record Almost One Death Every Nine Days
- Florida Prisoner Returns to Custody After Overturned Conviction Reinstated
- South Carolina Jailer Gets 10 Years for Sexually Assaulting Nine Detainees and Co-Workers
- Maryland Targets Highest-in-Nation Racial Incarceration Gap
- Idaho Warden Bought Execution Drugs on Roadside
- Connecticut Court Denies Access to Video of Prisoner’s Fatal Beat-Down by Guards
- Florida Prisoner Released to Die Settles With Centurion Over Ignored Prostate Cancer
- Wellpath Sanctioned for Discovery Violation in Suit Over Kentucky Prisoner’s Death, by Douglas Ankney
- Cruelty Is Now the Point for BOP
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- Former Prisoner Appointed President’s Pardon “Czar”
- Oregon DOC Replaces Top Medical Staffers Amid Turmoil
- Rikers Island Staffers, Contractor and Detainee Sentenced for Smuggling
- Washington DOC On Hot Seat Over “Unexpected Fatalities,” Missed Autopsies
- 20 Charged in Nevada Prison Brawl That Left Three Dead
- Second Circuit Revives Connecticut Prisoner’s Challenge To Conditions In Virginia Lockup Where He Was Transferred, by Douglas Ankney
- Pittsburgh Lockup Accounts for 43% of Pennsylvania Jail TASER Use, Suit Filed
- Rikers Island Detainees Wait in “Black Hole” for Competency Treatment
- Mass Incarceration Weakens All Workers, by Eric Seligman, Brian Nam-Sonenstein
- Plans to Hold Migrants at Gitmo Hit Snag
- Third Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity to Pennsylvania DOC in Prisoner’s Challenge to 26 Years of Solitary Confinement
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- Medical Copays Blamed for Reducing Prisoner Access to Healthcare
- New York Guards Indicted for Prisoner’s Murder
- Missouri Repeals “Pay-to-Stay” Law
- New Jersey DOC Sued Twice for Turning “Blind Eye” to “Pervasive” Drug-Smuggling Blamed for Prisoner Deaths
- $18,000 for New York Prisoner Who Alleged Guards Planted Shank in Cell
- Kansas Supreme Court Denies Compensation to Former Prisoner Whose Conviction Was Overturned
- Los Angeles County Pays $24 Million to Two Former Prisoners Wrongly Convicted as Teens of 1997 Murder, by Matthew Clarke
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- Texas Prison Heat Declared Unconstitutional
- $3.4 Million Settlement for Minnesota Jail Death Called “Real-Life Nightmare”
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- News in Brief
More from these topics:
- Three Prisoners Killed in Fight at Georgia Prison, Feb. 1, 2026. Prison/Jail Murders, Totality of Conditions, Failure to Protect (General), Eighth Amendment, Staffing.
- Dissenter Excoriates SCOTUS for Denying Certiorari in Challenge to Constitutionality of Nitrogen Hypoxia Execution, Feb. 1, 2026. Death Penalty, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Capital Punishment, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Method of Execution.
- North Carolina Parole Commission Agrees to Stop “Moving Goalposts” for Prisoners Who Committed Crime as Juveniles, Feb. 1, 2026. Parole Board Misconduct, Rehabilitation/Recidivism, Parole, Juvenile Offenses/Offenders, Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
- Deportation of Kenyan Priest Working as Texas Prison Guard Highlights TDCJ’s Dependence on Immigrant Staff, Feb. 1, 2026. Staffing, Exposure to Heat, Guards/Staff, Deportation/Removal/Exclusion, Detention - Generally.
- California Funds $38 Million Pilot Program to Investigate Methods for Cooling Three Prisons, Jan. 1, 2026. DOC/BOP misconduct, Systemic Medical Neglect, Eighth Amendment, Exposure to Heat, Deliberate Indifference.
- As California Limits Water Use, People in Prison Face Punishment for Showering, Jan. 1, 2026. Overcrowding, Eighth Amendment, Environmental Law, Water, Sanitation.
- Amnesty International Report Claims Torture and Enforced Disappearances at “Alligator Alcatraz”, Jan. 1, 2026. Guard Misconduct, Totality of Conditions, Detention - Generally, Cruel and Unusual Punishment, Confinement in Segregated Housing.
- Wisconsin Appeals Court Upholds Dismissal of Detainee’s Jail Food Lawsuit, Jan. 1, 2026. Aramark, Dental Care, Failure to Treat, Food, Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
- Prisoners and Detainees in the Gulf Coast Are Particularly at Risk from Natural Disasters, Dec. 1, 2025. Statistics/Trends, Shelter, Exposure to Heat, Hurricane Katrina, Immigration Detention.
- First Circuit Greenlights Rhode Island Prisoner’s Damages Suit for Disastrous 450-Day Solitary Confinement, Dec. 1, 2025. Eighth Amendment, Control Units/SHU/Solitary Confinement, 42 U.S. Code § 1983, civil action for deprivation of rights, Immunity - Absolute and Qualified, Deliberate Indifference.

