New Prison Policy Initiative briefing on “Heat, floods, pests, disease, and death: What climate change means for people in prison”

Leah Wang has this new briefing for the Prison Policy Initiative titled “Heat, floods, pests, disease, and death: What climate change means for people in prison.”  The piece’s subheading summarizes its themes: “Without consistent access to relief or safer environments, incarcerated people are punished with deadly heat, increased biological threats, and flimsy emergency protocols. We explain new epidemiological evidence confirming that heat and death are linked in prisons nationwide, and explain why the climate-change-induced plight of people in prisons deserves swift action.”

Here is how this timely new report gets started (links left out, head to PPI to see all the graphics and links):

Heatwaves and extreme weather events are now commonplace.  States across the South and Southwest are experiencing record high temperatures (during the day and at night, which is a big deal).  Meanwhile, the Northeast has been drenched in more frequent, torrential rainfall and flash flooding.  Prisons and jails nationwide aren’t insulated from these events, yet we rarely see how correctional staff ensure the safety of the millions of people locked within them.

Hopefully, readers have seen our prior work — or any of several other powerful essays — explaining the ways in which extreme heat, combined with a lack of air-conditioned spaces and cooling measures, is especially harmful to people behind bars.  Some have described the experience as being trapped in heat-retaining “convection ovens.”  We’ve also highlighted some of the environmentally disastrous ways prisons are sited and operated.

In this briefing, we present new findings from a nationwide, epidemiological study showing a strong relationship between extreme heat and deaths in prisons — especially in the Northeast.  We also explain why extreme heat isn’t an isolated danger — it’s wrapped up in other hazards like pests and diseases guaranteed to make prison life miserable, if not fatal.