{"id":34166,"date":"2023-08-02T10:38:06","date_gmt":"2023-08-02T14:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=34166"},"modified":"2023-08-02T10:38:10","modified_gmt":"2023-08-02T14:38:10","slug":"inmates-prisons-grapple-with-oppressive-heat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2023\/08\/02\/inmates-prisons-grapple-with-oppressive-heat\/","title":{"rendered":"Inmates Prisons Grapple with ‘Oppressive’ Heat"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Dara Kam The News Service of Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nearly a month into a stifling heat wave, corrections officials are attempting to alleviate sweltering conditions in Florida\u2019s unairconditioned prisons, but advocates for inmates say the efforts fall short and aren\u2019t being carried out the same way at all facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout July, inmates\u2019 supporters pressed the Department of Corrections to take steps to offer some relief to the roughly 85,000 people locked up in prisons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, advocates scored a victory when department officials agreed to allow inmates to wear shorts and T-shirts instead of the mandated standard \u201cClass A\u201d clothing \u2014 undershirts, dress shirts, underwear, long pants, socks and shoes or boots \u2014 for most of the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Chairwoman Jennifer Bradley, a Republican whose sprawling North Florida district includes a number of prisons, said she has worked for weeks with Department of Corrections Secretary Ricky Dixon to find ways to mitigate the effects of what has been record-breaking heat in some areas of the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is something that has been an issue for many, many years. But this summer has been really unprecedented, unrelenting. I hear from (inmates\u2019) loved ones, but more importantly, I visit prisons and when I go and visit, it is just oppressive,\u201d Bradley, R-Fleming Island, told The News Service of Florida this week, adding that the state has \u201can aging prison population\u201d that also will have to be addressed in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Many prisons are decades old \u2014 as an example, Union Correctional Institution, which is in Bradley\u2019s district, has been operating since 1913 \u2014 and installing air conditioning in all facilities would be expensive and take years to complete. Also, some aging facilities don\u2019t have infrastructure that can be retrofitted for modern cooling systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Temperatures inside buildings without air conditioning can soar 15 degrees higher than the temperature outside. That means temperatures over 100 degrees last month put the thermometer above 115 inside prisons in some regions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dixon late last week \u201ctemporarily lifted uniform restrictions\u201d to permit inmates to wear shorts and T-shirts, or \u201cClass C\u201d uniforms, Department of Corrections spokesman Paul Walker confirmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bradley praised Dixon\u2019s move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere was a free solution out there, and that was to allow inmates to wear shorts and T-shirts, to just change the uniform requirements, so that they weren\u2019t wearing long pants and multiple layers on top \u2026 So really it was a change in policy that was no cost to DOC (the Department of Corrections),\u201d Bradley said. \u201cDoes it get us where we need to be? No. But it is a really good, great, first step by DOC. Absolutely.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Denise Rock, executive director of Florida Cares Charity Corp., said not all inmates are being allowed to shed extra layers. As she fields hundreds of messages from inmates\u2019 loved ones expressing concern about the heat and reporting conditions at facilities, Rock said not all prisons are following Dixon\u2019s directive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt just seems to be wildly all over the place, not any consistency with institutions. So we still are continuing to go back and forth to try and get some consistency,\u201d Rock told the News Service. \u201cI believe that the administration up in Tallahassee, I believe they get it. But the boots on the ground, those officers, they don\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rock\u2019s group for weeks pleaded with corrections officials to relax the uniform standards. But she\u2019s also asking them to reduce indoor temperatures by turning off lights during the day, boosting the number of fans in common living areas and providing access to showers throughout the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When asked about mitigation measures, department spokesman Walker said the agency has \u201cair-conditioned housing units serving the most vulnerable inmate populations, including the infirmed, mentally ill, pregnant and geriatric.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Day-use areas, including chapels, medical facilities and administration offices, are equipped with air conditioning, Walker added. Institutions also are audited and comply with federal standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some prisons built before air conditioning was common \u201cwere instead designed to facilitate airflow to provide natural cooling within them,\u201d according to Walker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll non-air-conditioned dorms use some form of climate control to mitigate heat, such as fans or exhaust systems, which create a high level of air exchange to cool the building. These housing units also incorporate other fans, such as a ceiling or wall-mounted circulation fans. In addition, all housing units contain refrigerated water fountains to provide a source of cool water for the inmate population,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The department did not respond to several requests for Dixon\u2019s memo about the uniform standards. Rock is pressing corrections officials to be more open about what they\u2019re doing to address the heat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe could handle this so much better if DOC would be transparent and just share the memo,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we all know what should be done, and then when a warden isn\u2019t doing it, or the officer isn\u2019t doing it on the institutional level, somebody can share. Why does it have to be a big secret?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Bradley said corrections officials also pledged to provide inmates \u201cgreater access to cold water\u201d as the heat persists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThese are things that we should be able, as a state, to provide \u2014 cold water, cool uniforms. These are things, short of AC, that do make a difference,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bradley said she\u2019s continuing to work with corrections officials to explore other mitigation efforts, such as providing more shade around outdoor pavilions and using misting fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cynthia Cooper said her husband, Vohn, was in confinement last week in a small cell with no windows and no ventilation at Tomoka Correctional Institution in Volusia County. Four \u201cmedium-sized\u201d wall fans and a large exhaust fan were inadequate to cool a common area, she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight now, it\u2019s 97 degrees where I\u2019m at. So if it\u2019s 97 degrees outside, you have to add 15 degrees to that inside that dorm. There\u2019s 80 men in that dorm. It\u2019s just ridiculous,\u201d she told the News Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sen. Jason Pizzo, D-Hollywood, also has visited numerous prisons and receives messages from inmates\u2019 loved ones about conditions at the facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pizzo said he relayed concerns posted on social media to corrections officials. Speaking to the News Service, he rattled off a number of issues at institutions throughout the state, including a broken water line at one facility that led prison staff to provide bottled water to inmates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have really old, dilapidated, inefficient structures and plants and operations that need to be replaced,\u201d Pizzo said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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