The Danger of Inhumane Temperatures
By Samuel Marti
The first thing you notice when you arrive in Miami is the heat. Imagine you’re wrapped in an invisible blanket. The extra water vapor makes it feel like you have to chew the air before you can breathe it. If you’re like me, you’re already moist, dripping beads of sweat that leave clothes clinging to you in terribly unflattering ways. And because of the humidity, the sweat takes longer to evaporate — you’re flushed again in no time.
Us Floridians are acutely aware of how nice living somewhere warm is, but many of our summers are marred by heat related deaths. We tell people to seek cold shelter in the heat, to quench their thirst with cool water, to remove themselves from dangerously high temperatures.
But for the incarcerated in aging prison facilities, archaic buildings without A/C or modern ventilation systems, there is little escape from inhumane temperatures.
Since well before my time, states like Florida and Texas have incarcerated people in facilities lacking A/C and proper ventilation systems. Inhumane temperature cause heat strokes, heat exhaustion, severe dehydration, and even premature deaths.
Imagine how hot it gets within a state prison without A/C, especially in places like Florida. Imagine how hot those concrete buildings get after baking in triple digit temperatures. Prison facilities without cooling units are hot boxes housing incarcerated people and staff. There is little reprieve for those who work and live in prisons without A/C. They eat in heat, they bathe in the heat, and they sleep in the heat.
The correctional departments require legislative intervention in order to secure the funds for retrofitting. Legislators either ignore the issue outright or argue that installing A/C in aging prison facilities is too costly. That the costs associated with central cooling and updated ventilation systems is prohibitive.
For years, advocates have sounded the alarm about excess heat in prisons. This past winter emphasized how dangerous freezing temperatures can be in those same aging facilities. Without climate control systems, inhumane temperatures threaten the health of thousands of people within the prisons.
This year the Texas legislature had a chance to pass meaningful bills addressing the lack of A/C within state prisons. Thousands of affected family members and advocates reached out to their lawmakers. We wrote emails and left impassioned messages. We organized across county lines and leaned on each other for support. We’ve tried desperately to instill a sense of urgency in the lawmakers who can address inhumane temperatures in prisons, and still, the fight continues.
Help FAMM make prisons safer, more transparent, and accountable by contacting your lawmakers. Tell them to create and support an independent prison oversight body. If you’re in Texas you can join the fight by texting “TXHeat” to 21333.
Samuel Marti is FAMM’s Coalitions Manager.
