Faith leaders and criminal justice advocates are sounding the alarm about extreme heat in U.S. prisons, warning life-threatening temperatures put incarcerated people, especially those with medical conditions, at serious risk.
Southern states like Kentucky face especially severe challenges, where extreme heat endangers both inmates and staff. During a recent webinar, 85 to Stay Alive: “Answering the Call,” hosted by Texas Prison Community Advocates and the Climate and Incarceration Research Collective, panelists shared stories and urged action before summer heat arrives.
Joseph Clark, assistant imam at the 5th Ward Islamic Center for Human Development in Houston, Texas, recounted his own prison experiences, describing dangerous conditions caused by extreme heat.
“It would be so hot on the unit that we would break out the windows on the turn roller so air can come through the window,” Clark recounted. “The warden would not fix the window purposely for when it got cold, so during winter conditions we would freeze to death.”
Kentucky’s prison system, like many others across the country, lacks universal air conditioning, leaving many inmates and staff sweltering in extreme heat. According to a 2023 report from the Prison Policy Initiative, several Kentucky correctional facilities operate without proper cooling, exposing individuals to potentially fatal conditions.
Amite Dominick, founder and president of the group Texas Prison Community Advocates, warned climate change is causing longer, hotter summers, escalating risks in prisons. She urged leaders to act quickly to protect human rights.
“We do consider it to be cruel and unusual punishment and a violation of an individual’s 8th Amendment rights,” Dominick asserted. “Essentially, what we’re asking for is that temperatures are maintained between 65 and 85 degree heat index, within all of our Texas prisons and within all of our prisons across the nation.”
Last summer, Clark County jail inmates struggled to breathe in the stifling heat due to a broken air conditioner. Advocates urged Kentucky officials to act before next summer, calling for an evaluation of prison conditions and measures to prevent further suffering and deaths.
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