incarcerated people

Climate change is making extreme heat inside prisons a serious humanitarian concern, with reports describing incarcerated people enduring dangerous, furnace-like conditions as temperatures rise. Commentators are highlighting how prisons often lack air conditioning and how heat waves are putting prisoners' health and lives at risk, prompting calls for reform and better climate protections behind bars.

Incarcerated people across the United States are being held in cells that reach sweltering highs in summer and near-freezing lows in winter, as many prisons lack adequate heating, cooling or insulation. Reporting highlights how extreme indoor temperatures endanger inmate health, with heat-related deaths and cold exposure drawing scrutiny from advocates who argue the conditions amount to cruel and unusual punishment and are prompting calls for reform.