Inside Oregon’s oldest prison: 114-degree cells and $13M annual repairs

Nationally, states increasingly face legal challenges related to extreme temperatures in prisons, said Michele Deitch, director of the Prison and Jail Innovation Lab at the University of Texas at Austin LBJ School of Public Affairs.

The most prominent example: Texas, where two-thirds of prison beds are not air-conditioned. A class-action lawsuit related to heat is pending and, Deitch said, a recent preliminary ruling sided with prisoners.