As heat becomes more extreme, inmates are increasingly threatened by rising temperatures

Steve Brooks’ cell has no windows or air conditioning, so he relies on two eight-inch fans when it’s stifling inside California’s oldest prison. There’s no access to ice or cold water, and during periodic power outages, there’s no electricity.

“It’s kind of like you’re hyperventilating. The room’s closing in,” said Brooks, who’s incarcerated in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and has published articles about extreme heat behind bars.

During an eight-hour outage in 2024, the heat rose to between 90 degrees Fahrenheit and 100 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius and 38 degrees Celsius). “It was just really scary.” It felt, he said, like he was running out of oxygen.

As climate change fuels hotter temperatures, inmates are increasingly vulnerable.

Extreme heat can cause symptoms like dizziness, nausea and headaches. Heat stroke, the most serious heat illness, can kill. When heat combines with humidity, it makes it harder for sweat to evaporate to cool the body.

Many prisons and detention centers in the U.S. are older buildings with antiquated, less efficient or nonexistent cooling systems. Many were built during a prison boom that started in the 1970s and were constructed with heat-trapping materials like concrete and steel. And many prisons are overcrowded.

Research shows the number of hot days has increased, and that hotter temperatures are linked to a higher risk of death for inmates, including from suicides.

Damon Gilbert, a fellow with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, said heat-related deaths in prisons are underreported and often don’t account for how high temperatures make chronic health issues worse. “It’s incredibly dangerous and it’s only getting more dangerous. And so far we are not keeping up as a country to adapting these facilities.”

Prisons are getting hotter, increasing risk of death

One study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that most U.S. prisons had at least 10 days in the summer that were hotter than every previous summer, and several factors exacerbated the risks, including overcrowding and restrictions on movement.

Another study published in the National Library of Medicine found that hotter days mean more deaths from such things as heart disease and suicide — including among people who had been incarcerated for less than a year and those who were 65 or older.

Julie Skarha, who led the study on prison deaths linked to hotter days, said newly incarcerated people had a higher risk of dying likely because they’re not yet acclimated to the heat. “Some people are sentenced to serve in places they’ve never lived before. … So suddenly someone is having to adapt to this environment very quickly, something they’re not used to,” she said.

‘It’s absolutely stifling. You can’t breathe’

In the Minnesota prison at Lino Lakes, about 336 prisoners live in two medium-security units built in 1992 that the state acknowledges don’t have effective cooling.

Greg Andreotti, who spent two summers in both units, said the facility’s design can exacerbate the heat. The cells hold up to two people and have large windows, and when Andreotti was there, they had no tinting or reflective film, “so your room bakes all day in the sun.”

Inside the prison people can buy small personal fans currently priced at $27.53, but many can’t afford them, he said. Other times they weren’t in stock. And while they might bring some relief, research shows fans are ineffective during heat waves.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections said those two housing units did not originally have air conditioning except for in common areas. It was added years later but struggles to control humidity during certain times of the year.

Aaron Swanum, a spokesman for the department, said in an email there have been multiple repair efforts over the years but “they have not been able to effectively cool the housing units because the system is undersized for the space.” It’s determining ways to better control inside temperatures and anticipates seeking state funding to make improvements.

For now, the facility uses large industrial fans in common areas and in the housing unit hallways, allows continuous access to ice, has painted skylights and takes other measures to help mitigate heat, the agency said. A recently completed window tinting project is expected to help.

“It’s oppressive. It’s like sitting in a tomb slash sauna,” recalled Josh Mcmillen, who was incarcerated in one of Lino Lakes’ housing units without effective cooling. “You already feel like you’re being entombed when you shut that door. But when you shut that door and it’s absolutely stifling, you can’t breathe. You feel no air flow.”

In California, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it follows a heat illness prevention plan, and that each prison monitors temperatures and provides additional cooling measures — including increased access to water stations, ice, showers and fans — during extreme heat.

Without adequate AC, cooling options are limited

Andreotti would cool off in the shower, use wet rags and sometimes lay on the concrete floor. Ice was only available outside his cell, and access was limited.

“When you’ve got 200 people attacking an ice machine over a three-hour period that you’re allowed out of your room, what do you think happens to it? There’s no ice,” he said.

Mcmillen would stock up on aspirin for the tension headaches he’d get from the heat.

In recent years, lawsuits related to heat in prisons have been filed in states, including plainly unconstitutional ” and recently ordered the state to install air conditioning in all of its prisons by the end of 2029. Advocates allege temperatures inside can push above 120 F (48.9 C), resulting in hundreds of inmate deaths in recent years.

On a summer day in 2023, Carlos Ramirez Bibiano was found vomiting and covered in a puddle of his own excrement in an outdoor cell in a Georgia prison, according to a lawsuit settled with his family recently for $3.25 million. He was left for five hours without water, shade or ice as temperatures climbed to 96 F (35.6 C), and he was on medications that make it more difficult to regulate body temperature. That evening, the complaint says, Ramirez died of heart and lung failure caused by heat exposure.

Experts say more information, regulation is needed

It’s not much better for the prison guards and staff — though they get to go home after their shifts.

Lino Lakes prison warden Eddie Miles said they ensure prison staff have cold water, breaks and opportunities to cool off in climate-controlled areas to beat the heat.

Some states have rules to protect workers from extreme temperatures, but those don’t apply to inmates. States like North Carolina,Vermont and Texas are spending millions to upgrade or install cooling systems. California says it could cost billions to make changes, though they might save millions in healthcare costs related to heat illnesses.

States have the power to protect inmates from the threat of extreme heat, experts said, it’s just a matter of political will.

“It’s going to take funding. It’s going to take attention and investment and collaborations between those agencies and the experts who are wanting to engage in this issue,” said Carlee Purdum, assistant professor at the University of Houston who studies how disasters impact vulnerable people.

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