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Baking Behind Bars: Air Conditioning as a Fundamental Human Right to Prevent Climate Change-Induced Prison Deaths

  • Yimin (Amelia) Peng
  • Oct 4
  • 5 min read
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Yimin (Amelia) Peng

August 1, 2023



As the world's attention is fixed on the escalating impact of climate change on the environment, including more frequent droughts, wildfires, rising sea levels, and more intense heat waves (Jackson, 2023), mainstream media has overlooked the mounting issue of heat-related deaths in prisons. Ever since the dawn of the industrial revolution in the late 1700s,  a relentless truth has been unfolding before us: the Earth's global average temperature has surged by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (Shaftel, 2023), and it has been revealed that for every 10 degrees above the average summer temperature, prison deaths increase by 5.2% (Lartey, 2023). This pressing issue of climate change-induced escalation in heat-related prison deaths highlights the importance of recognizing access to air conditioning as a fundamental human right, especially with climate change each summer will only be harder to survive than the last, establishing a perilous precedent for the well-being and safety of incarcerated individuals.

Over the last few decades, a relentless and deadly heat wave has swept across the southwest, gradually spreading its tendrils to impact the entire planet. Amidst the devastation, an often forgotten, overlooked, and disproportionately affected group of people are prisoners. On a scorching summer day in South Texas, tragedy befell Quintero Jones as the temperature soared close to a staggering 100 degrees. At 37 years old, Jones bore the weight of asthma and high blood pressure, making him among the countless incarcerated individuals who relied on medications that further heightened their vulnerability to the sweltering climate. He was found lying on the ground attempting to "stay away from the baking hot cinder-block walls," when he suffered from a severe asthma attack aggravated by the heat; after receiving CPR 20 minutes late, Jones left the world in July 2015.


The rising temperature is not only uncomfortable but also deadly. Approximately 271 prisoners died of heat-related causes in un-air-conditioned Texas prisons between 2001 and 2019 (Flahive, 2023), and many more suffer heat exhaustion annually, with symptoms of dizziness, nausea, and heat rashes (Baker, 2023). Dominick, the founder of Texas Prisons Community Advocates, responded to the issue, stating, “We have people going in for unpaid parking tickets and [drug] possession charges, and they end up getting a death sentence because of the heat.” Every summer, as temperatures reach unprecedented highs, the heat index consistently surpasses 125 degrees, a critical threshold classified as “extreme danger” for heat-related illnesses and death, classified by the National Weather Services (Lartey, 2023). An environmental epidemiologist at Brown University, Julia Skarha, compared summertime mortality rates for Texas prisons with and without air conditioning; the results showed no association (Baker, 2023) between extreme heat day and increased mortality in air-conditioned prisons, while prisons that lacked air conditioning suffered a 13% (Baker, 2023) increase in heat-related deaths. Worsening the dilemma prisoners face, 70% of Texas prisons remain devoid of air conditioning (Santucci & USA Today, 2022), and Texas is far from alone, at least 44 US states, including those grappling with the highest national temperatures (Santucci & USA Today, 2022), have yet to adopt a universal air conditioning standard for their prison facilities. One inmate told the Texas public radio that conditions feel “like you’re standing over a grill all day.”


Another inmate, Don Adlaco, explained one of his traumatizing experiences, “Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night where I’m pouring sweat …I’m thinking that I’ve got something crawling on me, but it’s the actual sweat pouring off your body.” Another incarcerated woman reported desperately, “I can’t eat … I can’t gain weight … I get dizzy and headaches … I am weak. I have diarrhea too with leg cramps at night. I have even passed out a few times. I drink plenty of water. They do not allow respite … Please … help me with any information to get a unit transfer.” Though things already seem terrible, a disconcerting outlook lies ahead as the national oceanic and atmospheric administration (NOAA) forecast a hotter-than-average summer in the US, with temperatures likely to soar to record high in the coming five years (National Weather Service Conus - 90 Day Outlook, 2023). In fact, just this summer, unexpected heat waves in the northeast and northwest caused nearly 6,000 high-temperature records to be broken (Santucci & USA Today, 2022), heightening the pressure in prisons once more. An analysis conducted by the union of concerned scientists (Dahl, 2019) shows that if no action is taken to slow down fossil fuel emissions, the frequency of days per year surpassing 105 degrees Fahrenheit will quadruple by mid-century, effectively turning temporary incarceration into a death sentence.


While those on the outside have various options to beat the heat, such as indulging in a refreshing cold shower, enjoying the comfort of air conditioning, or seeking respite in cooler surroundings, the unfortunate reality is different for individuals behind bars. Skarha explained, “Water isn’t available 24/7. Showers are limited. There is a uniform. If you want a fan, you must buy it from the prison commissary, and for some people that’s not affordable.” Despite there being protocols in Texas being put in place for heat waves, such as fans, extra ice, and cold showers, Dominick’s experience proves otherwise. “When the temperature surpasses 95°F, fans aren’t enough,” said Dominick, noting the CDC’s heat illness prevention guideline and principal recommendation for high heat: “Exposure to air conditioning for even a few hours a day will reduce the risk for heat-related illness.”


Extreme circumstances lead to extreme measures, and in the face of extreme conditions, inmates are resorting to drastic measures in their efforts to stay cool during scorching hot days. Dominick recalls, “Some force their cell toilets to overflow, so that they can take respite by lying on the wet concrete floors. Others jerry-rig swamp coolers by draping wet t-shirts over fans that they buy from the commissary.” Another male prisoner wrote, “Your survival mode has to kick in and you end up sleeping on a wet floor with wet clothes with your fan on just to make it. I most definitely have PTSD” (Baker, 2023).


Thanks to activists like Dominick, a bill was passed in the Texas House, mandating prisons to maintain temperatures below 86 degrees; however, despite its importance, the legislation encountered a familiar obstacle: lack of funding, as the estimated cost of $1.1 billion proved challenging for legislators to secure. Though as climate change further intensifies, costs of medical care, wrongful death lawsuits, and staffing for hotter prisons is starting to overweigh the cost of installing air conditioning in those facilities. However, despite this, the state proceeded to remove more than $500 million from the budget allocated for enhancing air conditioning in prisons, citing the perspective that air conditioning is a luxury. This may be understandable if climate change weren’t a problem, but in the context of climate change, as Skarha argues, air conditioning is not a luxury. It is a human right.


In a time with prevailing climate change and temperatures that rise exponentially, air conditioning in prisons is no longer a luxury but a moral imperative that aligns with the very essence of our shared humanity, and that shouldn’t be stripped away no matter how overlooked or “undeserving” the target community is.



References


Baker. A. (2023, May 22). “Air Conditioning Is a Human Right.” Heat-Related Prison Deaths Are Rising Due to Climate Change. Pulitzer Center.

Jackson, R. (2023, May 31). The Effects of Climate Change. Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/#:~:text=We%20already%20see%20effects%20scientists, will%20also%20increase%20and%20intensify.

Shaftel, H. (2023, February 7). Overview: Weather, Global Warming and Climate Change.

Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet.

https://climate.nasa.gov/global-warming-vs-climate-change/#:~:text=Since%20the%20pr e%2Dindustrial%20period%2C%20human%20activities%20are%20estimated%20to,0.36

%20degrees%20Fahrenheit)%20per%20decade.

Lartey, J. (2023, July 22). “Concrete coffins:” How people struggle with extreme heat behind bars. The Marshall Project; The Marshall Project. https://www.themarshallproject.org/2023/07/22/texas-heat-prison-louisiana#:~:text=A%2 0separate%20nationwide%20study%20released,prison%20deaths%20increase%20by%2 05.2%25

Flahive, P. (2023, July 19). Extreme heat raises concern about the health of prison inmates, particularly in Texas. NPR.

https://www.npr.org/2023/07/19/1188739778/extreme-heat-raises-concern-about-the-heal th-of-prison-inmates-particularly-in-t#:~:text=A%202022%20study%20by%20the,deaths

%20in%20this%20prison%20system.

Dahl.K (2019, July 2). Union of Concerned Scientists. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/killer-heat-united-states-0

Santucci, J., & USA Today. (2022, September 12). Most US states don’t have universal air conditioning in prisons. Climate change, heat waves are making it “torture.” Phys.org; Phys.org. https://phys.org/news/2022-09-states-dont-universal-air-conditioning.html


 
 
 

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