Dangerous summer heat inside Texas prisons

School of Architecture

Record-breaking 2022 summer heat means that incarcerated people and correctional officers are inside Texas prison units that are dangerously hot. Pioneering research led by Carlee Purdum, a research assistant professor at Texas A&M’s Hazard Reduction and Recovery Center, is documenting these conditions; temperatures inside units have been shown to regularly reach 110 degrees. “Nearly every year, there are reports of incarcerated people and staff falling extremely ill and/or dying from complic…