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Incarcerated people in the United States face deadly and growing heat exposure risk

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Carceral facilities have experienced an increase in days with dangerous heat conditions over the past 40 years, particularly at state facilities in the southern and southwestern United States. Indoor temperature regulation is necessary to protect the health of vulnerable incarcerated populations.

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Fig. 1: Exposure to hazardous heat conditions in carceral facilities.

References

  1. Jones, A. Cruel and unusual punishment: when states don’t provide air conditioning in prison. Prison Policy Initiative https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2019/06/18/air-conditioning/ (2019). A policy brief that reports air conditioning regulations by state and describes heat illness-related health effects.

  2. Holt, D. Heat in US prisons and jails: corrections and the challenge of climate change. Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, Columbia Law School https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/sabin_climate_change/124 (2015). This paper discusses the civil rights implications of extreme heat given climate change.

  3. Jacklitsch, B. et al. Criteria for a Recommended Standard: Occupational Exposure to Heat and Hot Environments. US Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/docs/2016-106/pdfs/2016-106.pdf (2016). A document outlining the criteria for recommended occupational exposure to heat.

  4. Kang-Brown, J., Jones, S., Tagal, J. & Zhang, J. People in Jail and Prison in 2022. Vera Institute https://www.vera.org/downloads/publications/People-in-Jail-and-Prison-in-2022-Report_2023-06-15-203035_whnq.pdf (2023). A dataset that describes incarceration trends by county, state, race and sex.

  5. Skarha, J. et al. Heat-related mortality in U.S. state and private prisons: a case-crossover analysis. PLoS ONE 18, e0281389 (2023). A study that estimated the association between mortality and heat, extreme heat and heatwaves among incarcerated populations.

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Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Tuholske, C. et al. Hazardous heat exposure among incarcerated people in the United States. Nat. Sustain. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01293-y (2024).

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Incarcerated people in the United States face deadly and growing heat exposure risk. Nat Sustain 7, 385–386 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-024-01312-y

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