How Global Warming Makes Overcrowded Prisons Even More Dangerous

There is no population more captive to the effects of global warming than the incarcerated. And given the huge concentration of black and Latino prisoners in America, this is a classic case of environmental injustice, as these consequences fall widely on prisoners of color. A new study from Daniel W. E. Holt of the Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law explains over 144 pages what the climate-change toll truly is on the two-million-plus bodies caged in our prison system.

The report focuses on the extreme heat effects from a destabilized climate—effects that are already turning some prisons into microwaves where prisoners bake between metal walls and bars with little air conditioning relief. Some courts have already ruled that extreme heat conditions in prisons qualify as cruel and unusual punishment, which is unconstitutional. And others have argued in court that, for prisoners with heat-exacerbated illnesses, it’s also a violation of the Americans with Disability Act.