Extreme heat threatens lives and prisons sometimes use it to profit.

Prison Policy Initiative updates for July 19, 2023 Exposing how mass incarceration harms communities and our national welfare

Heat, floods, pests, disease, and death: What climate change means for people in prison [[link removed]] Without consistent access to relief or safer environments, incarcerated people are punished with deadly heat, increased biological threats, and flimsy emergency protocols. [[link removed]]

by Leah Wang

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 [[link removed]]). Meanwhile, the Northeast has been drenched in more frequent, torrential rainfall [[link removed]] and flash flooding. Prisons and jails nationwide aren’t insulated from these events, yet we rarely see how bad the conditions are for the millions of people [[link removed]] locked within them.

Hopefully, readers have seen our prior work [[link removed]] — or any of several [[link removed]] other [[link removed]] powerful [[link removed]] essays [[link removed]] — 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 [[link removed].].” We’ve also highlighted some of the environmentally disastrous ways [[link removed]] 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.

New research confirms what we already know: Extreme heat and deaths are linked in prisons nationwide

A group of researchers, led by epidemiologist Julianne Skarha, offer new evidence [[link removed]] that the heat we’ve been experiencing is particularly deadly for incarcerated people across the U.S. Using two datasets — annual deaths [[link removed]] in state prisons from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and hourly temperature data from the North American Land Data Assimilation System [[link removed]] — the researchers looked at unusually high temperatures occurring in the summer months at the geographic location of prisons.

Using established public health research methods, the study’s authors were able to look at exposure to a “risk” or an event — in this case, hotter-than-average days or multi-day heatwaves, and observe an acute outcome — deaths in state prisons (categorized as suicide, heart disease, or death from any cause). They examined deaths that occurred up to three days after each heat event.

As expected, unusual heat was associated with higher overall mortality. The researchers found for every 10 degree increase above the prison location’s mean summer temperature, nearly 5% of deaths (from all causes) occurring there could be attributed to the heat. Even the days following a hotter-than-average day were associated with deaths, although the risk of heat-related death declined, suggesting that mitigating heat right away is crucial.

Further, an extreme heat day (one that falls within the hottest 10% of days for a particular location) was associated with a 3.5% increase in deaths. These extremely hot days had a delayed effect on suicides, which increased by 23% over the three days that followed. As if prison environments weren’t already damaging enough to mental health [[link removed]], the oppressive heat and a prison’s failure to provide relief from it can drive someone into unbearable distress.

Two- and three-day heatwaves (defined as consecutive days of extreme heat) were even more dangerous, increasing deaths by 5.5% and 7.4%, respectively. There were similar trends with deaths from suicide and heart disease, but they were not statistically significant.

The study’s authors also found that the impact of heat on mortality was highest in the Northeast region, which tracks with evidence suggesting heat-acclimated [[link removed]] populations might fare better [[link removed]] in a hotter world. So even though states like Texas are rightfully scorned for failing to provide livable environments for people in prisons, more temperate states (like those in New England [[link removed]]) aren’t off the hook either.

The results, as terrible as they are, likely underestimate the deadly effect of heat in prisons without A/C, as air conditioning data were not available for this analysis. The researchers also noted that they didn’t have data on the type of housing individuals were held in before they died, such as a solitary confinement cell. Despite these limitations, Skarha et al. offer the first nationwide, peer-reviewed publication showing that prisons, which are deadly places [[link removed]] already, are heating people to death.

Prisons fail to provide desperately needed relief from heat and other emergencies

As we mentioned in our 2019 investigation [[link removed]], air conditioning is not a universal feature of prison buildings in famously hot states, even though it is nearly ubiquitous in homes across the South. Short of prison A/C — which states will spend more money fighting through lawsuits [[link removed]] than they would installing — incarcerated people are seldom provided other forms of temporary relief. A survey [[link removed]] conducted in California prisons by the Ella Baker Center found that most respondents didn’t have access to more water or showers on particularly hot days. Meanwhile, 62% of respondents reported experiencing heat exhaustion and 41% reported heat cramps due to extreme heat and/or nearby wildfires. Two-thirds (67%) of respondents said they were worried or extremely worried about their physical safety in the case of extreme heat at their prison.

And even though judges in multiple states have ruled that subjecting incarcerated people to extreme temperatures is unconstitutional, they haven’t mandated any relief measures. Public opposition to providing “comfortable” carceral spaces has further compelled prison officials to do nothing about this life-or-death issue.

Even the mild relief of a fan or a towel can be hard to come by in prisons. These items might be available, though unaffordable, through a commissary [[link removed]]: In one federal prison, where most people make less than $0.50 per hour [[link removed]], a fan costs $30.70. And in Oregon, where a heat wave brought 100-plus degree days in 2021, one prison offered special “cooling” towels for $18 — a nearly 100% markup [[link removed]].

It would take more than a week’s worth of earnings at a federal prison in Texas for most people to afford this electric fan.

Aside from placing the burden on incarcerated people to gather these threadbare comforts, prisons are largely unprepared to respond to facility-wide emergencies and disasters. There is no national mandate for correctional facilities to form emergency preparedness plans, to have evacuation drills, or to train staff on emergency protocols. The same Ella Baker Center survey found that the vast majority of incarcerated respondents did not know of any plan [[link removed]] describing their prison’s emergency procedures for extreme heat (72% were not aware), extreme cold (88%), wildfires (88%), or flooding (92%).

Extreme weather is intertwined with other biological and social threats, leaving people in prisons highly vulnerable

As we and others have been saying for years, increasing heat is especially dangerous for people in prisons. But the heat itself is not the only issue. What other aspects of the prison environment will worsen as the climate changes?

Mosquito infestation

Mounting heat and humidity will lead to changes in pest populations nationwide, and incarcerated people will only fare as well as state mitigation strategies will allow. In Utah, for example, where a brand new prison recently opened [[link removed]] near the wetlands of the Great Salt Lake, mosquito populations are thriving in ideal conditions. Despite great concern [[link removed]] about this decidedly bad location, the mosquito problem at Utah State Prison has gotten so bad that prison officials have been scrambling for solutions.

Utah prison officials’ ill-conceived responses include selling insect repellent in the prison commissary (instead of providing it for free) and training staff to use pesticides to kill mosquitoes, leading to unintended consequences [[link removed].] for other parts of the sensitive ecosystem. Such consequences are also borne by the thousands of people who live and work in the area. Seeing as biological diversity is our best defense [[link removed]] against climate change, it’s devastating to see how the new Utah prison is proceeding to destroy such an important, fragile place, while putting its incarcerated population at risk [[link removed].] of mosquito-borne illness, flooding, and contaminated water.

Infectious diseases

As we detailed in our comprehensive report about the health of incarcerated people [[link removed]], and over three years of COVID-19 [[link removed]] reporting, infectious diseases disproportionately impact those in prisons, where modern medicine and public health directives go ignored [[link removed]].

The number of infectious disease outbreaks (by growing populations of mosquitoes and ticks, for example) has risen along with average global temperatures. There is some emerging evidence [[link removed]], for example, that climate change is contributing to a rise in Valley Fever, a deadly fungal infection that has plagued people imprisoned in the Southwest [[link removed]] for years. Based on decades of evidence, prisons and jails aren’t likely to be prepared for the increasing threats of bacterial, viral, and fungal [[link removed]] infections.

Violence

As the weather warms, prisons will demonstrate the well-documented relationship between heat and violence [[link removed]]. A July 2021 study [[link removed]] found unmitigated exposure to heat — even after accounting for dozens of other factors — increased violent events in Mississippi prisons. Aside from the physical harm of violence and the mental health [[link removed]] damage caused by living in a violent place, the study’s authors predict that violence under “thermal stress” may perpetuate mass incarceration: People pushed to act violently in prison are more likely to have disciplinary infractions that delay their release, and the overall harsher prison conditions caused by heat may increase the odds of recidivism once released. Clearly, lawmakers should consider the immense social and financial benefits that a universal necessity like air conditioning could have in their state prisons.

Environmental emergencies are the norm in a climate-changed world. While we focused on heat-related dangers in this briefing, the kinds of failures we described are present in how prisons deal with other weather events as well: Floods, fires, hurricanes, cold snaps, and blizzards are all particularly threatening to the lives of incarcerated people. Deteriorating infrastructure [[link removed]] and harmful policies around charging fees [[link removed]] for medical care, privatizing care [[link removed]] and commissary [[link removed]] items, and failed emergency protocols [[link removed]] are intensified by an increasingly volatile environment.

Even though incarcerated people regularly organize for their own survival needs, they face an especially daunting challenge building climate resilience [[link removed]]. The deck that is stacked against them grows as our surroundings become more inhospitable. And the impacts of climate change on incarcerated populations will ripple out to surrounding communities [[link removed].], making this an issue we should all care about. Places of confinement and the people inside them must be part of any effort to reduce the harms of climate change. The status quo is nothing short of an overlooked crisis [[link removed]].

***

For more information, including detailed footnotes, see the full version of this briefing [[link removed]] on our website.

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Our work is made possible by private donations. Can you help us keep going? We can accept tax-deductible gifts online [[link removed]] or via paper checks sent to PO Box 127 Northampton MA 01061. Thank you!

Other news: Cruel and unusual punishment: When states don’t provide air conditioning in prison [[link removed]]

We examined the evidence and found that 13 states in the hottest parts of the country lack universal air conditioning in their prisons. In this 2019 briefing [[link removed]] we explain the consequences.

Prisons are a daily environmental injustice [[link removed]]

From bad water and air to being sited on toxic wastelands, prisons have always been an environmental injustice.

In this 2022 briefing [[link removed]], we explain how society's calls for a clean and healthy environment usually leave incarcerated people behind.

Please support our work [[link removed]]

Our work is made possible by private donations. Can you help us keep going? We can accept tax-deductible gifts online [[link removed]] or via paper checks sent to PO Box 127 Northampton MA 01061. Thank you!

Our other newsletters Ending prison gerrymandering ( archives [[link removed]]) Criminal justice research library ( archives [[link removed]])

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