As heat becomes more extreme, inmates are increasingly threatened by rising temperatures

Steve Brooks' cell has no windows or air conditioning, so he relies on two eight-inch fans when it's stifling inside California's oldest prison. There's no access to ice or cold water, and during periodic power outages, there's no electricity.

“It's kind of like you're hyperventilating. The room's closing in,” said Brooks, who's incarcerated in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and has published articles about extreme heat behind bars.

During an eight-hour outage in 2024, the heat rose to between 90 degrees Fahrenheit and 100 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius and 38 degrees Celsius). “It was just really scary.” It felt, he said, like he was running out of oxygen.

As climate change fuels hotter temperatures, inmates are increasingly vulnerable.

Extreme heat can cause symptoms like dizziness, nausea and headaches. Heat stroke, the most serious heat illness, can kill. When heat combines with humidity, it makes it harder for sweat to evaporate to cool the body.

Many prisons and detention centers in the U.S. are older buildings with antiquated, less efficient or nonexistent cooling systems. Many were built during a prison boom that started in the 1970s and were constructed with heat-trapping materials like concrete and steel. And many prisons are overcrowded.

Research shows the number of hot days has increased, and that hotter temperatures are linked to a higher risk of death for inmates, including from suicides.

Damon Gilbert, a fellow with New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, said heat-related deaths in prisons are underreported and often don’t account for how high temperatures make chronic health issues worse. “It’s incredibly dangerous and it’s only getting more dangerous. And so far we are not keeping up as a country to adapting these facilities.”

One study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that most U.S. prisons had at least 10 days in the summer that were hotter than every previous summer, and several factors exacerbated the risks, including overcrowding and restrictions on movement.

Another study published in the National Library of Medicine found that hotter days mean more deaths from such things as heart disease and suicide — including among people who had been incarcerated for less than a year and those who were 65 or older.

Julie Skarha, who led the study on prison deaths linked to hotter days, said newly incarcerated people had a higher risk of dying likely because they're not yet acclimated to the heat. “Some people are sentenced to serve in places they’ve never lived before. ... So suddenly someone is having to adapt to this environment very quickly, something they’re not used to,” she said.

In the Minnesota prison at Lino Lakes, about 336 prisoners live in two medium-security units built in 1992 that the state acknowledges don't have effective cooling.

Greg Andreotti, who spent two summers in both units, said the facility’s design can exacerbate the heat. The cells hold up to two people and have large windows, and when Andreotti was there, they had no tinting or reflective film, “so your room bakes all day in the sun.”

Inside the prison people can buy small personal fans currently priced at $27.53, but many can’t afford them, he said. Other times they weren’t in stock. And while they might bring some relief, research shows fans are ineffective during heat waves.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections said those two housing units did not originally have air conditioning except for in common areas. It was added years later but struggles to control humidity during certain times of the year.

Aaron Swanum, a spokesman for the department, said in an email there have been multiple repair efforts over the years but “they have not been able to effectively cool the housing units because the system is undersized for the space.” It's determining ways to better control inside temperatures and anticipates seeking state funding to make improvements.

For now, the facility uses large industrial fans in common areas and in the housing unit hallways, allows continuous access to ice, has painted skylights and takes other measures to help mitigate heat, the agency said. A recently completed window tinting project is expected to help.

“It’s oppressive. It’s like sitting in a tomb slash sauna,” recalled Josh Mcmillen, who was incarcerated in one of Lino Lakes' housing units without effective cooling. “You already feel like you’re being entombed when you shut that door. But when you shut that door and it’s absolutely stifling, you can’t breathe. You feel no air flow.”

In California, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said it follows a heat illness prevention plan, and that each prison monitors temperatures and provides additional cooling measures — including increased access to water stations, ice, showers and fans — during extreme heat.

Andreotti would cool off in the shower, use wet rags and sometimes lay on the concrete floor. Ice was only available outside his cell, and access was limited.

“When you’ve got 200 people attacking an ice machine over a three-hour period that you’re allowed out of your room, what do you think happens to it? There’s no ice,” he said.

Mcmillen would stock up on aspirin for the tension headaches he'd get from the heat.

In recent years, lawsuits related to heat in prisons have been filed in states, including Missouri, Florida and Texas, where a federal judge called extreme heat in Texas prisons “ plainly unconstitutional ” and recently ordered the state to install air conditioning in all of its prisons by the end of 2029. Advocates allege temperatures inside can push above 120 F (48.9 C), resulting in hundreds of inmate deaths in recent years.

On a summer day in 2023, Carlos Ramirez Bibiano was found vomiting and covered in a puddle of his own excrement in an outdoor cell in a Georgia prison, according to a lawsuit settled with his family recently for $3.25 million. He was left for five hours without water, shade or ice as temperatures climbed to 96 F (35.6 C), and he was on medications that make it more difficult to regulate body temperature. That evening, the complaint says, Ramirez died of heart and lung failure caused by heat exposure.

It’s not much better for the prison guards and staff — though they get to go home after their shifts.

Lino Lakes prison warden Eddie Miles said they ensure prison staff have cold water, breaks and opportunities to cool off in climate-controlled areas to beat the heat.

Some states have rules to protect workers from extreme temperatures, but those don't apply to inmates. States like North Carolina,Vermont and Texas are spending millions to upgrade or install cooling systems. California says it could cost billions to make changes, though they might save millions in healthcare costs related to heat illnesses.

States have the power to protect inmates from the threat of extreme heat, experts said, it’s just a matter of political will.

“It’s going to take funding. It’s going to take attention and investment and collaborations between those agencies and the experts who are wanting to engage in this issue,” said Carlee Purdum, assistant professor at the University of Houston who studies how disasters impact vulnerable people.

The Associated Press receives support from the Walton Family Foundation for coverage of water and environmental policy. The AP is solely responsible for all content. For all of AP’s environmental coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/climate-and-environment.

An industrial fan sits in a housing unit at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

People who are incarcerated play cards at a Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Greg Andreotti, who was formerly incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., stands for a portrait at the office of the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Josh McMillen, who was formerly incarcerated at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., stands for a portrait at the office of the Minnesota Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, in St. Paul, Minn. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

An air conditioning unit is placed in a housing unit at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

A fan blows air inside while a person who is incarcerated washes dishes in a housing unit at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

A skylight is painted over to reduce the temperature in a housing unit at a Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

A person who is incarcerated scoops ice into his drink at a Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

A person who is incarcerated plays ping pong while some windows block light with a reflective coating, meant to lower indoor temperatures, at a Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

People who are incarcerated exercise and drink water at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

People who are incarcerated roam near the security desk, which is equipped with a fan and water cooler, at a Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

Fans are placed nearby while a person who is incarcerated has a virtual visit at a Minnesota Correctional Facility in Lino Lakes, Minn., Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Ellen Schmidt)

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia pressed its missile and drone barrage of Ukraine, killing seven people, including a child, while mainly targeting the power grid, officials said Wednesday.

Moscow’s steep escalation of its aerial campaign since the end of August is putting pressure on Ukraine as it braces for winter, when Russia regularly bombards energy facilities to deny Ukrainians heat, power and running water.

The heavy overnight attack caused power outages and prompted questions about whether it marked the start of Russia's anticipated cold weather campaign, which Ukrainian officials describe as an attempt to “weaponize winter.”

“There has been virtually no day since summer when the enemy did not attack energy infrastructure,” Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said on Telegram. “But such a massive and combined attack happened for the first time since the end of the last heating season.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha noted the increase in Russian strikes has brought “days of almost uninterrupted air raid alerts across Ukraine.”

“Russia is intensifying its terror: jet-powered drones during the day, ballistic and cruise missiles at night, constant attacks against our cities and civilian life,” Sybiha said on X.

Ukrainian officials say Moscow is not engaging with U.S. efforts to halt the fighting, 4½ years after Russia invaded its neighbor. Moscow says it wants a comprehensive settlement rather than a temporary truce, but its demand for Ukraine to surrender land is unacceptable for Kyiv.

Nationwide, the Russian attacks killed seven Ukrainian civilians and wounded 24, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said, without providing details.

A boy was killed in an attack on a private home in Vyshhorod, a city in the wider Kyiv region, said Tymur Tkachenko, head of the regional military administration. Three other people were rescued from the rubble, he added.

Three other people were killed by attacks in the capital, with four injured, according to authorities.

Russia fired 2,850 jet-propelled drones at Ukraine in August but by Tuesday it had already launched 3,177 this month, Ukrainian air force spokesman Yurii Ihnat said.

Russia has exploited gaps in Ukrainian air defenses by firing ballistic missiles and new jet-powered drones, both of which are hard to stop. Air raid alerts are disrupting daily life, sending people running for shelter and denting economic output.

The attacks come in waves, Ihnat told Ukrainian television late Tuesday, mostly aimed at Kyiv and the surrounding region. Ukraine needs more missiles for U.S.-made Patriot air defense systems to counter ballistic missiles and for other ground-based air defenses, he said.

The main Russian targets were energy infrastructure in Kyiv and the surrounding region, Zelenskyy said on social media, describing it as “a difficult attack” as Moscow stretches Ukraine's air defenses.

Zelenskyy thanked foreign countries supporting Ukraine for recent deliveries of air defense help. “And the closer we get to winter, the more of this protection we need," he said. "We must do everything to ensure that Russia’s bet on ballistic missile and drone terror does not pay off.”

The Russian Defense Ministry said its overnight attack hit a hydroelectric and a thermal power plant, an electrical substation, an energy storage facility and a data center.

Ukrainian officials didn’t specifically confirm those strikes, as Kyiv wants to deny Moscow intelligence about the effectiveness of its attacks. Authorities reported hits on civilian areas of at least four Kyiv districts.

Hatton reported from Lisbon, Portugal.

Follow the AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

A boy looks at fragment of a rocket in front of a residential house destroyed in a Russian missile strike on Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

Rescue workers put out a fire at a residential house destroyed in a Russian missile strike on Vyshhorod, Kyiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, rescuers put out a fire in a garage destroyed after a Russian drone strike on Kyiv region, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, rescuers put out a fire affecting garages destroyed after a Russian drone strike on Kyiv region, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)

In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, a rescuer walks on a site of a Russian drone strike on residential house in Kyiv region, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)