Cells without relief
Steve Brooks is incarcerated at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, California’s oldest prison. His cell has no windows or air conditioning, so he relies on two eight-inch fans. He has no access to ice or cold water, and when the electricity fails, the fans stop. During an eight-hour outage in 2024, his cell reached between 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit (32 to 38 degrees Celsius).
“It’s kind of like you’re hyperventilating. The room’s closing in,” Brooks said. The heat, he said, felt like he was running out of oxygen.
Many U.S. prisons and detention centers occupy older, overcrowded facilities with outdated, inefficient or nonexistent cooling. Many went up during a prison-construction boom that began in the 1970s, using heat-trapping materials such as concrete and steel. Inmates often have little control over how they cool down, and restrictions on movement can add to the risks.
Extreme heat can cause dizziness, nausea and headaches. Heat stroke can be fatal. Humidity makes it harder for sweat to evaporate and cool the body. Research has linked hotter temperatures to increased inmate death risk, including deaths by suicide.
Facility conditions and state responses
At the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, about 336 prisoners live in two medium-security units built in 1992. The state acknowledges that the units lack effective cooling. Greg Andreotti spent two summers in both units. The large, untinted windows, he said, 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 they’re sometimes out of stock. Research cited by AP says fans don’t work well during heat waves. Andreotti said he used showers, wet rags and the concrete floor to cool himself; 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.” When he shut the door, he said, “it’s absolutely stifling, you can’t breathe. You feel no air flow.” He stocked up on aspirin 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 resolved the problem because “the system is undersized for the space.” The department is assessing temperature-control options 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 its heat illness prevention plan includes temperature monitoring and additional cooling measures during extreme heat, including water stations, ice, showers and fans.
Courts, deaths and funding
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 (48.9 degrees Celsius), contributing to hundreds of inmate deaths in recent years. Heat-related prison lawsuits have also been filed in Missouri and Florida.
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 (35.6 degrees Celsius). He was taking medications that made temperature regulation harder. 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.
Lino Lakes prison warden Eddie Miles said staff receive cold water, breaks and opportunities 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.