Hazardous heat and humidity is widespread in US jails and prisons, and climate change is worsening conditions

An estimated 1.8 million incarcerated people in the United States have been recently exposed to a dangerous combination of heat and humidity, and on average experience 100 days of these conditions each year—many of them in the 44 states that do not provide universal air conditioning to inmates. Tracking with climate change, in recent decades the number of dangerous humid heat days in carceral facilities has increased, with those in the south experiencing the most rapid warming.