An estimated 1.8 million incarcerated people in the United States have been recently exposed to a dangerous combination of heat and humidity, and on average experience 100 days of these conditions each year—many of them in the 44 states that do not provide universal air conditioning to inmates. Tracking with climate change, in recent decades, the number of dangerous humid heat days in carceral facilities has increased, with those in the south experiencing the most rapid warming.
The findings by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Montana State University, University of Kansas and University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) appear in the journal Nature Sustainability .
“Exposure to excess heat and humidity can lead to deadly heat stroke and kidney disease from chronic dehydration, among other health issues, for incarcerated people in the United States,” says first author Cascade Tuholske, PhD, assistant professor of Human-Environment Geography at Montana State University. “The majority of these exposures are happening in state-run prisons and jails in Southern states that do not legally mandate access to air conditioning for the incarcerated. It is concerning because climate change is amplifying dangerous heat extremes in these locations.”
“Dangerous heat impacting incarcerated people has been largely ignored, in part due to perceptions that their physical suffering is justified,” says senior author Robbie M. Parks, PhD, assistant professor of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “Laws mandating safe temperature ranges, enhanced social and physical infrastructure, and focused health system interventions could mitigate the problem. Doing so is critical for incarcerated people, who have severely limited social and political agency.”
Additional findings:
Incarcerated people are disproportionately susceptible to dangerous humid heat given preexisting health conditions. In fact, 43 percent of the state prison population has a previous mental health diagnosis , and people on psychotropic medications are at increased risk for heat illness.
The researchers estimated heat and humidity using data from the PRISM Climate Group across in 4,078 facilities nationwide with data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Dangerous days were those where the indoor wet bulb globe temperature—a measure of humid-heat stress—exceeded 82.4 degrees Fahrenheit (28°C)—the threshold used by the U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health to limit humid heat exposure under moderate workloads.
Additional co-authors include Victoria D. Lynch, Raenita Spriggs, and Anne E. Nigra of Columbia Mailman School of Public Health, Yoonjung Ahn of University of Kansas, and Colin Raymond of UCLA.
Funding support for the study was provided by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (80NSSC22K1872), National Institutes of Health (R00ES033742, DP5OD031849, P2CHD058486, T32ES007322).
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Sustainability
Data/statistical analysis
People
Hazardous heat exposure among incarcerated people in the United States
5-Mar-2024