Stifling prison heat used to be just a Southern problem. Not anymore

While sweltering heat in prisons without air conditioning has long been an issue in the South, extreme heat waves worsened by climate change are expanding the problem into Northern states. In recent years, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin have seen extreme heat in prisons. Many of these states lack the necessary infrastructure for ventilation or cooling systems capable of managing extreme heat. “This is not at all an issue that’s confined to what we all think of as the hot states,” David Fathi, director of the ACLU National Prison Project, said in an interview with S...