Addressing the Impact of Extreme Temperatures in Jails and Prisons
As part of our focus on climate justice in jails and prisons, CLJC is researching the growing crisis of extreme temperatures in carceral facilities. As climate change produces more intense weather events, we must fight to ensure that incarcerated people are not exposed to additional danger and cruelty. In response to these worsening conditions, advocates and litigators across the country are bringing constitutional claims, disability rights claims, and other legal challenges to protect the rights of incarcerated people to be free from life-threatening temperatures. Through research, technical expertise, and the collaborative networks we are building, CLJC is working to ensure humane conditions for all detained and incarcerated people.
To advance this work, CLJC hosted a first-of-its-kind, interdisciplinary symposium — Confronting Climate Change in Correctional Facilities — examining how extreme heat, flooding, wildfires, and other climate disasters impact incarcerated people, and what can be done about it. The event brought together medical professionals, researchers, civil rights attorneys, investigative journalists, and policymakers for four sessions covering the landscape of climate impacts in correctional facilities, strategic alliances between lawyers, experts, and advocates, cutting-edge research on carceral health, and the political and financial pathways to address the crisis.
The Marshall Project's Carceral Heat Webinar
On July 21, 2026, CLJC staff attorney Rio Scharf joined a Marshall Project panel on the dangers of extreme heat in prisons, jails, and ICE detention centers, alongside journalist Maurice Chammah, Dr. Ufuoma Ovienmhada, and Dr. Susi Vassallo. The conversation covered why incarcerated people are uniquely vulnerable to soaring temperatures, the serious medical toll of heat behind bars, and the state of national litigation challenging extreme heat, including in California, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Missouri.