Climate Change
US Prisons and Jails Exposed to an Increasing Number of Hazardous Heat Days, Study Says
Incarcerated people in southern states had the greatest exposure to extreme temperatures, yet do not have access to universal air conditioning, researchers found.
Marci Simmons thinks back to her days in a Texas state prison as a cruel game of psychological planning for the summer. “In April, you start preparing yourself for the heat,” she said. “Towards the end of May, when it starts to get hot, you start telling yourself, ‘OK, it’s only four months of this really bad heat.’ And then you kind of count down in your mind. It’s a mental game of survival.”
US Prisons and Jails Exposed to an Increasing Number of Hazardous Heat Days, Study Says