As inmates swelter, California prisons remain unprepared for extreme heat
5 months, 1 week ago

As inmates swelter, California prisons remain unprepared for extreme heat

LA Times  

The potential heat-related death of a prison inmate in California’s Central Valley this week is focusing renewed attention on conditions within correctional institutions as extreme heat, wildfire smoke and flooding pose increasing threats to incarcerated people. Though extreme heat endangers residents throughout the state, experts say California’s prisons are uniquely unprepared for climate change because of a variety of factors, including their remote locations, aging infrastructure and overcrowding. “The climate crisis impacts all of us, including people that are inside our California state prisons,” Chambers said. Prisons were originally covered under the plan but carved out at the last minute because of concerns from the California Department of Finance about the cost of adhering to the rules, which officials said could be “in the neighborhood of billions of dollars.” The fiancée of the 32-year-old inmate at the California Correctional Institution in Tehachapi, who also asked that her name not be used for fear of retaliation, said she is gravely concerned about his health and safety during heat waves.

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History of this topic

Opinion: California will finally have indoor heat standards for workplaces — with a cruel exception
5 months, 2 weeks ago

Opinion: California will finally have indoor heat standards for workplaces — with a cruel exception

LA Times  

A state board recently voted unanimously to create long-awaited indoor heat standards for California workers. Opinion Editorial: California workers shouldn’t have to face another broiling summer without indoor heat protections Workers in sweltering warehouses, kitchens and other workplaces prone to extreme heat illness face another summer without critical heat protection standards if California officials don’t move quickly to adopt and …

Editorial: Changing climate is turning prisons into torture chambers and death traps
1 year, 3 months ago

Editorial: Changing climate is turning prisons into torture chambers and death traps

LA Times  

The Louisiana Office of Juvenile Justice last year sent dozens of its young wards to the notorious state penitentiary known as Angola, where they have endured brutal heat waves throughout the summer without air conditioning. But dozens of young Louisianans were transferred nearly a year ago to the vacant former death row of the notorious adult maximum security state penitentiary …

Texas heat wave has inmates’ families worried about lack of air conditioning in state’s prisons
1 year, 5 months ago

Texas heat wave has inmates’ families worried about lack of air conditioning in state’s prisons

Associated Press  

AUSTIN, Texas — A heat wave that has consistently pushed temperatures well above 100 degrees Fahrenheit across much of Texas this summer had family members of inmates on Tuesday calling for lawmakers to ensure that all of the state’s prisons are fully air conditioned. Advocates and others have been highly critical of the lack of air conditioning in the nation’s …

Report: Deadly heat remains concern at Texas prisons
2 years, 5 months ago

Report: Deadly heat remains concern at Texas prisons

Associated Press  

HOUSTON — Amid a summer heat wave that has pushed temperatures in some Texas prisons without air conditioning to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, many inmates fear dying or falling gravely ill from the hot weather and believe actions taken by officials to mitigate the dangerous conditions continue to fall short, according to a new report. The report comes as the head …

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