A federal judge's rebuke of Texas housing prisoners in lockups without air conditioning stopped short of ordering a fix before summer in what has become of the country's biggest lawsuits over keeping prisoners safe during dangerous extreme heat.
But U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman's warnings to Texas to act after finding the conditions in the prison system unconstitutional could resonate elsewhere in the U.S. where similar challenges are ongoing, according to attorneys leading the Texas case and other prisoner advocates.
