Heat’s toll on prison life
Even when a prison has a cooling mechanism, its effectiveness can depend on the age and type of system, as well as maintenance.
“I would roll up my mattress just to lay on the cold steel of the bunk bed to get a little relief from some of those times when the AC would break down,” said Vanessa Rojas, who was formerly incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution, a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida.
The Bureau of Prisons, which oversees FCI Tallahassee, confirmed air conditioning outages in several locations of the prison during the time Rojas was incarcerated. A spokesperson said that inmates may be relocated if the air conditioning cannot be repaired quickly and it provides commercial fans for some relief.
At Arizona State Prison Complex in Yuma county, dust and dirt would often clog up the air vents, making it difficult for cool air to blow through, said John Fabricius, executive director of Praxis Initiative, a non-profit organization working on criminal justice reform. Fabricius was formerly incarcerated for 15 years across various Arizona prisons.
The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry told Reuters that since Ryan Thornell was appointed director in January 2023, by then-incoming Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs, the department has launched a program to address the problem of heat in prisons, and three of the five housing units at Yuma were now equipped with modern air conditioning.
In prisons where there is no air conditioning, indoor temperatures can be “at or even above the reported outdoor air temperature,” Ovienmhada said.
Studies have shown rising temperatures and multi-day heat waves, defined as days where the temperature is above the 90th percentile, contribute to an increase in mortality in prisons. Brown University epidemiologist Julianne Skarha estimated in 2023 that a 10 degree increase in summer temperature was associated with a 5.2% increase in prison deaths and suicides increased nearly 23% in the three days following an extreme heat day.
Certain medications – like the beta blockers Peart takes to treat atrial fibrillation, a heart condition that causes irregular heartbeats – make people more vulnerable to the adverse health effects of extreme temperatures by affecting how they regulate their body temperature.
“I get lightheaded and shaky and cannot work out on days when the temperature is high,” he said.
CDCR told Reuters that during extreme heat situations, facilities “may also provide additional access to cooling stations in air-conditioned areas, such as clinics and mental health spaces, as well as increased access to water stations, fans, portable cooling units and ice.”
Maria Goellner, senior director of state policy at Families Against Mandatory Minimums, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates for criminal justice reform, said the U.S. prison population is aging, with medical needs requiring medication that makes them more susceptible to high temperatures.
“Prison is a place where your conditions of confinement directly impact your medical state,” she said.
Between 1999 and 2016, the number of incarcerated adults aged 55 and over increased by 280%, compared to a 3% increase in those aged under 55, according to a 2018 report by Pew Charitable Trusts.