Thermal (In)equity and incarceration: A necessary nexus for geographers

Abstract

Despite overall societal progress in reducing adverse impacts of heat and cold, incarcerated populations remain highly vulnerable to environmental stressors. Incarcerated populations experience a combination of risk factors related to their physical health and well-being that increase their thermal vulnerability: social isolation, disproportionate mental health issues, comorbidities, limited mobility, and a reliance on external factors to provide a safe, healthy environment. In carceral spaces, thermal exposure agitates these already complex situations, shaping a confluence of various economic, political, and ecological intersectionalities. This synthesis contextualizes the ongoing scholarship on climate change, thermal exposure, the built environment, and public policy, to examine thermal inequities experienced by incarcerated populations. In examining this context, we connect our work to carceral geographies, the geographies of violence, racial capitalism, and abolition ecologies. Ultimately, the review highlights how physical geographers may directly converse with critical geographers, promote equity and environmental justice, and work to reduce adverse impacts of extreme temperature events.

Embracing ‘Abolition Ecology’: A Green Criminological Rejoinder

“…These include responses to the rising sea levels displacing Gullah/Geechee people on Sapelo Island, Georgia, USA (Hardy et al 2022); intersectional analyses of disability justice, accessibility and ableism in critical discussions of placemaking and ecology, which acknowledge the role of white supremacy in producing inaccessible, racialised geographies (Reimer 2021) and to the adverse impacts of environmental stressors (e.g. heat and cold) on racialised incarcerated populations (Colucci et al 2021). Understanding the varied application of these ideas and the new avenues they open for conceptions of environmental justice, provides further impetus for green criminological scholarship.…”

Extreme Heat and Suicide Watch Incidents Among Incarcerated Men

“…Extreme heat poses a distinct risk to the 2.1 million incarcerated people in the United States, who have disparately high rates of behavioral health conditions . Few jails and prisons have been constructed to endure rising temperatures.…”

“…Few jails and prisons have been constructed to endure rising temperatures. Carceral structures are mostly built with materials, such as stone, metal, and concrete, that retain heat and have small or closed windows that impede air circulation, which create conditions for indoor temperatures that exceed those outdoors . Overcrowding is rampant in the US carceral system, with hundreds or thousands of people cramped into poorly ventilated dormitories or small cells (single or double-bunked), which can intensify the physiological and psychological stress of heat exposures .…”

“…Carceral structures are mostly built with materials, such as stone, metal, and concrete, that retain heat and have small or closed windows that impede air circulation, which create conditions for indoor temperatures that exceed those outdoors . Overcrowding is rampant in the US carceral system, with hundreds or thousands of people cramped into poorly ventilated dormitories or small cells (single or double-bunked), which can intensify the physiological and psychological stress of heat exposures . The flip side of extreme overcrowding is extreme isolation (known as solitary confinement), generally defined as being confined in a cell for approximately 22 hours per day, which is defined by international bodies as torture and recognized as a public health and human rights crisis …”

“…As recounted in litigation and commentaries, people in solitary confinement are especially susceptible to the hazards of extreme heat because they are less able to avoid or mitigate heat-related stress than those in general population units of prisons or in community settings . Yet, only 2 prior studies that we are aware of have explored associations between extreme heat and health among incarcerated persons.…”