Steve Brooks has no windows in his cell at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, California's oldest prison. He has no air conditioning either—just two eight-inch fans and no reliable access to ice or cold water. During an eight-hour power outage two years ago, the temperature in his cell climbed to between 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. “It's kind of like you're hyperventilating. The room's closing in,” Brooks said. He said the heat felt as though he was running out of oxygen.
Across the United States, inmates in aging facilities face a compounding crisis: rising temperatures meet infrastructure that wasn't built to protect them. Many prisons and detention centers are older, overcrowded facilities with outdated, inefficient or nonexistent cooling systems. Many went up during a prison-construction boom that began in the 1970s, built with heat-trapping materials such as concrete and steel. This isn't just discomfort. It's a documented health threat that kills.
The Documented Toll
Research has found that hot days have become more numerous and that hotter temperatures are associated with increased inmate death risk, including deaths by suicide. Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that most U.S. prisons had at least 10 summer days hotter than every previous summer. A study published in the National Library of Medicine linked hotter days to more deaths from heart disease and suicide, including among people incarcerated for less than a year and those 65 or older.
Extreme heat can bring dizziness, nausea and headaches. Heat stroke can be fatal; humidity makes it harder for sweat to evaporate and cool the body. Julie Skarha, who led the study on prison deaths linked to hotter days, said newly incarcerated people faced higher risk, likely because they hadn't acclimated. “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.
Damon Gilbert, a fellow with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, said the problem extends beyond what official counts reveal. “Heat-related prison deaths are underreported and often fail to account for how high temperatures worsen chronic health conditions,” he said. “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.”
Inadequate Resources, Unequal Conditions
At the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, about 336 prisoners live in two medium-security units built 34 years ago that the state acknowledges lack effective cooling. Greg Andreotti, who spent two summers in both units, said large, untinted cell windows meant “your room bakes all day in the sun.” People can buy small personal fans, then priced at $27.53, but Andreotti said many can't afford them, and stores sometimes run out. Research cited by AP says fans don't work during heat waves.
Anders Andreotti cooled himself with showers, wet rags and the concrete floor; ice was available only outside cells, 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. Josh McMillen, formerly incarcerated in a unit without effective cooling, recalled: “It's oppressive. It's like sitting in a tomb slash sauna.” He said, “when you shut that door and it's absolutely stifling, you can't breathe. You feel no air flow.” He kept aspirin on hand for tension headaches.
The gap in protection is stark. Staff at facilities receive cold water, breaks and chances to cool off in climate-controlled areas. Lino Lakes prison warden Eddie Miles noted that staff can go home after their shifts. Inmates can't. Some states' extreme-temperature rules for workers don't cover inmates.
Deadly Cases and Delayed Response
The consequences have been fatal. In Georgia, Carlos Ramirez Bibiano was found vomiting and lying in his own excrement in an outdoor cell on a summer day three years ago. A lawsuit, recently settled with his family for $3.25 million, said he went five hours without water, shade or ice as temperatures reached 96 degrees Fahrenheit. He was taking medications that made temperature regulation harder, and the complaint said he died that evening of heart and lung failure caused by heat exposure.
People have filed heat-related prison lawsuits in Missouri, Florida and Texas. A federal judge called extreme heat in Texas prisons “plainly unconstitutional” and ordered the state to install air conditioning in all its prisons by the end of 2029. Advocates allege temperatures inside can exceed 120 degrees Fahrenheit, contributing to hundreds of inmate deaths in recent years.
Institutional Responses and Unmet Needs
The Minnesota Department of Corrections said the units originally had air conditioning only in common areas. The department later added air conditioning, but it struggles to control humidity at certain times. Department spokesman Aaron Swanum said repairs hadn't fixed the problem because “the system is undersized for the space.” The department is assessing ways to control temperatures and expects to seek state funding for improvements.
California's Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it follows a heat illness prevention plan. Prisons monitor temperatures and provide additional cooling measures during extreme heat, including water stations, ice, showers and fans. Yet Brooks's experience suggests those measures fall short when infrastructure is fundamentally inadequate.
North Carolina, Vermont and Texas are spending millions to upgrade or install cooling systems. California says changes could cost billions but might save millions in health care costs related to heat illness. Carlee Purdum, assistant professor at the University of Houston, said states can protect inmates but need to act. “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,” she said.
Why This Matters:
This isn't a crisis of nature alone—it's a crisis of public institutions failing to meet basic constitutional obligations to people in their custody. Inmates can't leave. They can't choose where they work or how long they stay outside. They can't buy adequate cooling equipment if they lack money. The difference between how staff and inmates are treated in extreme heat reveals a fundamental inequality in how different groups experience the same facility. When heat-related deaths go underreported and chronic conditions are ignored, accountability becomes impossible. States acknowledge the problem, yet their response—funding studies, assessing solutions, seeking future appropriations—moves slower than the rising temperatures themselves. A federal judge had to declare extreme heat “plainly unconstitutional” before Texas committed to air conditioning by 2029. For the thousands of people incarcerated in aging facilities right now, waiting for state funding decisions or court orders isn't protection. It's a death sentence delivered slowly.