Reviewing concerns (and litigation) over extreme heat in prisons and jails

This new Washington Post piece discusses the long-standing and extreme problem of extreme heat in US prisons and jails.  The full headline of this piece highlights its essentials: “For inmates, little escape from brutal heat in prisons without air conditioning: Climate change is exacerbating the danger. But no prisoners are sentenced ‘to swelter to death in a confined space,’ a civil rights attorney says.”  Here is how the article starts:

As scorching temperatures sweep across the country again this week, one group of Americans is living day-to-day with limited air conditioning and few options for staying cool: the 2 million men and women in state and federal prisons.

These punishing heat waves, which are expected to intensify in frequency and severity because of climate change, pose what prisoner advocates say is a deadly danger to much of the nation’s incarcerated population. Legislation pending in Congress notes that 13 states in the South and Midwest lack universal air-conditioning requirements for their prison facilities, with 22 states lacking even policies on temperature regulation.

“This is probably the greatest health and safety issue facing the prison population,” said David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project, who has been working on the issue for more than two decades. “When people argue, ‘I didn’t have air conditioning growing up,’ it’s also important to realize that we could leave our homes and go to the mall or a library. Those in prisons are sitting ducks.”

Earlier this month, a 42-year-old inmate collapsed amid sweltering conditions in California’s Central Valley. State officials are investigating her death amid allegations by her family and the California Coalition for Women Prisoners that extreme heat was the cause.

In Texas, arguments will be heard Tuesday in a federal lawsuit that describes triple-digit highs inside some state prison cells in the summer. Advocates accuse officials of downplaying the number of deaths linked to excessive heat. One case last August involved a 32-year-old man with a history of epilepsy and mental illness, whose core body temperature was 107.5 degrees when he was found unresponsive in his cell.