On this edition of Your Call's One Planet Series, we discuss the impact of extreme heat on people behind bars in the United States.
Inside Climate News reports on a study published in March in the journal Nature Sustainability which evaluated the heat exposure of more than 4,000 prisons, jails and immigration detention facilities across the US. since the 1980s. Researchers found that the number of hot days per year increased at over 1,000 facilities—mainly in the South. They found the states of Texas, Florida, Arizona and Louisiana had the most exposure to potentially hazardous heat days—yet none provide universal access to air conditioning in state-run prisons.
Researchers say the study illuminates the urgency of improved infrastructure and policies to keep people behind bars safe from extreme heat hazards that they cannot escape.
Guests:
Victoria Law, freelance journalist covering the intersections of incarceration
Sarah Hopkins, journalist covering environmental justice and the intersections between climate change and the law
Resources:
Inside Climate News: US Prisons and Jails Exposed to an Increasing Number of Hazardous Heat Days, Study Says
The Nation: The Scorching Temperatures Are Turning Prison Cells Into Furnaces
The Washington Post: For inmates, little escape from brutal heat in prisons without air conditioning
Texas Tribune: Former Texas prisoners describe suffocating heat during trial over state’s un-air conditioned lockups
