Texas Prisoners Died From Extreme Heat, Lack Of AC

More than 250 people died from extreme heat while incarcerated in Texas from 2001 through 2019 because of the state’s refusal to alleviate indoor heat, a study in JAMA Network Open found. The American carceral system reflects and perpetuates centuries of systemic racism, and incarcerated people are among the most vulnerable to climate change of any group in the U.S. Of Texas’ nearly 100 prisons, two-thirds lack air conditioning and — as climate change, mainly caused by the extraction and combustion of fossil fuels continues to make extreme heat more frequent and intense — more than one-third of Texas counties will see 50 days or more of 105°F-heat every year in just 28 years. “These individuals are dying because the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is refusing to put AC in prisons,” Amite Dominick, a co-author of the report, told Grist. (Grist; Climate Signals background: Extreme heat and heatwaves)