Hello Houston: The Commuter Cut
Oct 7, 2026 · 42 min · 9 segments
In today's edition of "The Commuter Cut," Amite Dominick, the founder and president of…
Amite DominickGuest
Nathan FelixGuest
Ernie ManouseHost
Louise BarnettGuest
Tessa BarreraHost
Late last month, a federal judge ordered Texas to air condition all of its prisons by the end of 2029, finding that extreme heat in the state's prisons violates the Constitution, the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
Just over a third of Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities currently have full air conditioning.
And the agency says it will appeal the ruling while advocates are now focused on making sure the order is carried out.
Why has air conditioning in Texas prisons been such a longstanding issue and what roadblocks have prevented it? Also, what comes next following the ruling? Joining us to talk about it is Amit Dominic, founder and president of Texas Prison Community Advocates, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to this very ruling.
I guess I would just start with the fact that in the intro, it says the agency say will appeal the ruling.
Why would anyone appeal this? I just don't understand this whole story that you would put people in.
You know, unfortunately, we expected it right after sitting in 12 days worth of hearing times, not to mention the preliminary hearings.
It's very obvious that TDCJ has a skewed version of the truth and presents certain statements that.
So where they're telling the legislators, we need to put air conditioning in there, and then they turn around and appeal.
They're telling the public that, of course, the agency wants to do these things.
And like I said, unfortunately, We expected it, and we expect this to be a long fight that I think, importantly, people should realize that this is something that could have been resolved by our legislative body back in 2019 when we first started bringing them the bills on the topic.
And so there's a lot of culpability to be spread around for this particular issue.
Late last month, a federal judge ordered Texas to air condition all of its prisons by the end of 2029, finding that extreme heat in the state's prisons violates the Constitution, the constitutional protection against cruel and unusual punishment.
Just over a third of Texas Department of Criminal Justice facilities currently have full air conditioning.
And the agency says it will appeal the ruling while advocates are now focused on making sure the order is carried out.
Why has air conditioning in Texas prisons been such a longstanding issue and what roadblocks have prevented it? Also, what comes next following the ruling? Joining us to talk about it is Amit Dominic, founder and president of Texas Prison Community Advocates, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led to this very ruling.
I guess I would just start with the fact that in the intro, it says the agency say will appeal the ruling.
Why would anyone appeal this? I just don't understand this whole story that you would put people in.
You know, unfortunately, we expected it right after sitting in 12 days worth of hearing times, not to mention the preliminary hearings.
It's very obvious that TDCJ has a skewed version of the truth and presents certain statements that.
So where they're telling the legislators, we need to put air conditioning in there, and then they turn around and appeal.
They're telling the public that, of course, the agency wants to do these things.
And like I said, unfortunately, We expected it, and we expect this to be a long fight that I think, importantly, people should realize that this is something that could have been resolved by our legislative body back in 2019 when we first started bringing them the bills on the topic.
And so there's a lot of culpability to be spread around for this particular issue.
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