High temperatures violate the Constitution’s protection against cruel and unusual punishment, the judge ruled. Just over a third of Texas prisons are fully air conditioned.

It would cost $1.5 billion to fully cool all prisons, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice estimates.

The Texas Tribune’s database of state employees’ compensation has been updated to include salaries as of July 1.

The woman infamous for rapping about San Antonio is set to be released from prison next week.

Inmates say the policy unfairly punishes them — and note that prison staff also bring in contraband.

The Texas Tribune’s database of state employees’ compensation has been updated to include salaries as of April. 1.

The plaintiffs are asking for the entire Texas prison system to be air-conditioned by the end of 2029 in a trial that is expected to last two weeks.

House Bill 3006 would require the installation of climate control in state prison facilities by 2032.

Weeks after a federal judge declared hot conditions in Texas prisons unconstitutional, a bill requiring air conditioning in those facilities by 2032 has gained traction in the House.

Faced with more immediate funding needs, state officials haven’t asked for more money for rehabilitation programs, such as STRIVE, next budget cycle.

A report found up to 70% of guard positions were unfilled at some prisons. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has a 26% staff turnover rate.

The Bartlett Unit in Williamson County will house 1,049 male inmates who will participate in educational programs aimed to help them secure a job after they’ve served their time.

More than 250 Texas prisoners are on the waitlist to join the Lee College reentry class. Programs like these prepare students to find jobs and help lower recidivism.

Roberson was convicted of killing his 2-year-old daughter in a “shaken baby” case that many say led to an innocent man’s death sentence.

A new state report says the prison population will outgrow capacity by the end of next year.

Two counties house training programs in local high schools as officials pitch corrections jobs as gateways to criminal justice careers.

About 25% of Texas’ correctional officer positions are unfilled. Inmates say the shortages make it harder for them to get respite during hot summer months.

A Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmate who escaped from its Huntsville unit Sunday is now back in law enforcement custody.

A handful of Texas jails have issued electronic tablets to inmates. Counties can make money off their use.

A federal lawsuit asserts that the Texas agency terminated a state prison clerk who refused to remove a head covering in line with her Ifa faith.

With the threat of another hot summer ahead, advocates asked a federal judge to declare 100-degree-plus conditions in uncooled Texas facilities unconstitutional.

Speer has been on death row for decades after strangling another inmate at a Texas prison. The victim’s sister and faith leaders have both called on the parole board to halt the execution.

The killing of inmate Billy Chemirmir in the Coffield Unit occurred during a statewide lockdown of prisons, promoted by a rise in inmate homicides. A day before the lockdown, another incident at the same prison resulted in the firings of seven correctional officers and the resignations of another six.

The state has canceled all visits to Texas prison inmates until a comprehensive search of all 100 correctional facilities for contraband has been completed.

Most Texas prisons lack air conditioning. At least 41 prisoners have died of heart-related or undetermined causes since the unrelenting heat wave began.

The seven-months-pregnant officer reported contraction-like pains at work, but said she wasn’t allowed to leave for hours. The anti-abortion state is fighting her lawsuit, in part by saying her fetus didn’t clearly have rights.

Operation Lone Star originally targeted single men suspected of crossing the border illegally in mass trespassing arrests, but some claimed that not arresting women violated equal protection laws.

Several lawmakers supported a call for Gov. Greg Abbott to bring lawmakers back immediately to approve air conditioning for prisons, which the Legislature declined to do during its regular session.

Management & Training Corporation had been accused of defrauding the state by charging for services it didn’t provide and directing prisoners to falsify paperwork about their treatment.

Since a heat wave gripped Texas, at least nine inmates, including two men in their 30s, have died of heart attacks or unknown causes in prisons lacking air conditioning. It’s been 11 years since the state last classified a death as heat-related.

For more than a decade, Texas has been trying to slim down its youth prison system, which has been plagued by years of abuse scandals. This Legislature is reversing that course.

Stifling heat has killed inmates and exacerbated employee turnover in Texas prisons. But funding for air conditioning was whittled down in the draft budget released Thursday.

“They didn’t try to fix the brokenness,” his mother says. “They just broke him more.”

Moving the most violent and troubled youths to adult prison makes it easier to help others in juvenile facilities, some prosecutors and lawmakers say. Youth justice advocates say Texas is giving up on the children who most need help.

Joshua Keith Beasley Jr. had been transferred from a Texas youth facility to an adult prison despite a long history of suicidal behavior. Five guards and two supervisors allegedly failed to check on him.

Sweltering heat has killed inmates, driven away prison workers and cost taxpayers millions in lawsuits. The House budget would provide air conditioning for 46 prisons, but it’s unclear if the Senate will sign on.

Many state-owned vehicles are aging past the standards for replacement. Early budget drafts signal that lawmakers are considering funding some $237.6 million in requests for new ones.

At issue is whether Thomas, who gouged out his eyes after confessing the 2004 murders of his estranged wife, their son and her daughter, is competent to be executed in April.

Ruiz was convicted in the 2007 shooting death of Dallas police Senior Cpl. Mark Nix after a high-speed chase.

After 21 days, the last of many Texas prisoners to consistently refuse food ended his hunger strike. In letters to The Texas Tribune, two prisoners spoke out on the dire solitary confinement conditions that led them to starve themselves.

Men sentenced to death in Texas are held in isolation until their execution dates, with little human contact, medical care or legal help, according to a lawsuit filed to improve treatment of the condemned.

Although the number of men refusing food has steadily declined, 38 are still starving themselves to protest Texas policies that often keep prisoners in isolation for years or even decades.

Prisoners have refused food to protest practices that have kept more than 500 people in isolation for more than a decade.

Hundreds of prisoners may participate in the protest beginning Tuesday, the first day of the state’s legislative session. Texas often keeps prisoners in solitary confinement for years or decades.

Texas agencies say they are being hammered by a historic staffing crisis, particularly when it comes to those in the trenches serving the state’s most vulnerable populations.

Texas heat has killed prisoners and cost the state millions in wrongful death and civil rights lawsuits. Prison rights advocates hope a budget surplus next year will finally push lawmakers to invest in air conditioning.

The review came after Gonzalo Lopez escaped on May 12 and eventually killed five people.

The review comes after Gonzalo Lopez escaped from a prison bus last month. Authorities say he killed a family of five before they found and killed him.

Authorities say Gonzalo Lopez killed a man and his four grandchildren in Leon County. He escaped from a prison bus nearly three weeks ago.

Officials are still trying to piece together how Gonzalo Lopez managed to cut through a metal door and hijack a prison bus Thursday. An extensive manhunt continues in Leon County.

Foster had been the getaway driver, not the triggerman, in a killing that first put him on death row. Former Gov. Rick Perry commuted his death sentence to life in prison in 2007.

The latest Texas execution protocols forbid spiritual advisers from praying aloud or touching prisoners as the prisoners are killed. Some members of the high court said they feared overturning the rules would lead to a flood of requests for other religious accommodations during executions.

John Ramirez was scheduled to die Wednesday. His last request to the state had been to let his pastor hold on to him as he died, something the state denied. The high court wants to hear oral arguments on the matter later this year.

Border-crossing immigrants are being arrested by Texas troopers on state charges like trespassing, and they’re starting to trickle into a prison emptied to house them.

While many Texas prisons are understaffed, some dangerously so, the emptied-out Briscoe Unit in Dilley is in "maintenance mode" as officials scramble to implement the governor's plan to increase the state's role in border enforcement.

A civil liberties group had tried to delay Hummel's death after reporters were excluded from the state’s last execution.

At any given time, thousands of Texas prisoners have been approved for parole but not yet released. At least 42 of those people died in the 12 months after the coronavirus first swept the state.

On Wednesday, the state executed Quintin Jones, 41, for the Tarrant County murder of his great-aunt in 1999.

The bill initially approved by the House aims to cool all of Texas’ prisons before 2029. But even if it is signed into law, the lockups will only be air conditioned if lawmakers provide specific funds for installation.