An eight-hour power outage in 2024 sent temperatures in Steve Brooks’ cell at California’s San Quentin Rehabilitation Center soaring to between 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit. He had no windows, air conditioning, ice or cold water—just two eight-inch fans. “It’s kind of like you’re hyperventilating. The room’s closing in,” Brooks said.
Heat Behind Locked Doors
Many U.S. prisons and detention centers sit in aging, overcrowded buildings with outdated, inefficient or nonexistent cooling systems. Built during a prison-construction boom that began in the 1970s, many have heat-trapping materials such as concrete and steel. Incarcerated people have little control over how they cool down, and limits on movement increase the risks.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that most U.S. prisons experienced at least 10 summer days hotter than any previous summer. Research has linked hotter temperatures to a higher risk of inmate death, including death by suicide.
A study published in the National Library of Medicine linked hotter days to more deaths from heart disease and suicide. The findings included people incarcerated for less than a year and people 65 or older. Julie Skarha, who led the study on prison deaths linked to hotter days, said newly incarcerated people faced greater 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.
Heat can bring dizziness, nausea and headaches. Heat stroke can kill, and humidity makes it harder for sweat to evaporate and cool the body. Damon Gilbert, a fellow with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, said officials underreport heat-related prison deaths and often fail to account for how high temperatures worsen chronic health conditions. “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,” he said.
At the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, about 336 prisoners live in two medium-security units built in 1992. The state acknowledges the units lack effective cooling. Greg Andreotti spent two summers in both units. Large, untinted windows, he said, meant “your room bakes all day in the sun.”
Cooling Comes With Limits
People can buy small personal fans, then priced at $27.53, but Andreotti said many can’t afford them and they’re sometimes out of stock. Research cited by AP says fans don’t work well during heat waves. 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, who was 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 Minnesota Department of Corrections said the units originally had air conditioning only in common areas. The department later added air conditioning, but the system 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.
The department said the facility uses large industrial fans in common areas and hallways, provides continuous access to ice, has painted skylights and recently completed window tinting expected to help. California’s Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said prisons monitor temperatures and provide additional cooling measures during extreme heat, including water stations, ice, showers and fans.
Court Orders and Spending Plans
Lino Lakes prison warden Eddie Miles said staff receive cold water, breaks and chances to cool down in climate-controlled areas. Staff can go home after their shifts; inmates can’t. Some states’ extreme-temperature rules for workers don’t cover inmates.
Heat-related prison lawsuits have been filed 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 top 120 degrees Fahrenheit, contributing to hundreds of inmate deaths in recent years.
In Georgia, Carlos Ramirez Bibiano was found vomiting and lying in his own excrement in an outdoor cell on a summer day in 2023. A lawsuit, recently settled with his family for $3.25 million, said he was left 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.
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.