At least 41 inmates died in Texas prions last year due to heat related illness, according to one estimate.

Four nonprofit prisoner-rights groups filed a complaint Monday in an Austin federal court alleging that Texas prisons' widespread lack of air conditioning violates the constitution's ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The organizations joined a lawsuit filed last summer by Bernie Tiede, an inmate who argues he suffered an acute medical crisis after being housed in a Huntsville cell where temperatures exceeded 110 degrees. Tiede, a convicted murderer who served as inspiration for the 2011 film Bernie, was moved to an air-conditioned cell in the wake of a court order but could be forced back into the un-air conditioned portion of the prison in the future, he argues in his suit...