Five Things You Didn’t Know About Extreme Heat in Prison, Jail and ICE Detention

Most heat deaths behind bars are not heatstroke: Dr. Susi Vassallo told The Marshall Project that medical visits, hospitalizations and deaths all rise “precipitously” in hot weather among people with cardiac and respiratory disease or diabetes, with heat often recorded only as a secondary factor on a death certificate. The cooling measures facilities point to frequently fail — fans stop helping above certain temperatures and can make humid heat worse, they cost incarcerated people months of wages, and many cells have no outlets, while cold showers and ice are rarely provided. People who strip down or flood their cells to cool off are punished with sanctions or solitary confinement. Extreme cold is used the same way, with documented hypothermia deaths and air-conditioning deployed as punishment or coercion. Litigation is difficult: Eighth Amendment, due process and Americans with Disabilities Act claims all founder on the difficulty of proving deliberate indifference.