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Saturday, September 23rd, 2017

Without air conditioning, America’s prisons can be unbearable — and sometimes deadly

Author:     Nathalie Baptiste
Source:     Grist
Publication Date:     Aug 14, 2017
 Link: Without air conditioning, America’s prisons can be unbearable — and sometimes deadly
Stephan:   The American Gulag, the largest warehousing of human beings on the planet is explicitly -- although it is never admitted -- in the torture business. Solitary confinement for years, which every psychiatric and psychological professional organization in the country has labelled torture is one example. Air conditioning is another. We routinely torture people, how does that sit with you?

Credit: Shutterstock

Quintero Jones was an inmate at the McConnell Unit in Beeville, Texas. One day, when the outdoor temperature had reached 98 degrees and humidity  made it feel like 110, the 36-year-old collapsed in his cell and lay on the floor gasping for breath. According to a federal lawsuit filed by his family members in July, by the time help arrived, it was too late. His autopsy revealed that his death was caused by an asthma attack.

“Everybody knows high temperatures can be lethal, particularly to those who can’t take steps to cool themselves,” says David Fathi, the director of the National Prison Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. “Whenever there’s an extreme heatwave, people die — prisoners and non-prisoners alike.”

All across the country, prisons and jails are not equipped with air conditioning, and when temperatures soar, inmates are often trapped in unbearable, life-threatening conditions. The southern United States faces the greatest risk of extreme heat in the future, and cities in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas are projected to see the greatest increase of […]

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