They’re Being Cooked Alive. And We’re in Second Chance Month.
April. Second Chance Month. The time when we talk about redemption, rehabilitation, re-entry, second acts. The time when companies like ours highlight the stories of people who’ve rebuilt their lives after incarceration.
But while we’re celebrating second chances, prison systems across the country are subjecting incarcerated people to conditions that wouldn’t be legal for animals.
Let that sink in. We have heat standards for animal shelters. We have them for county jails. We have them for work environments. But not for prisons.
The Math of Cruelty
Prisons nationwide without adequate cooling regularly exceed 85 degrees—the maximum allowed in county jails. At one facility, the Garza West Unit in Texas, temperatures hit 85 degrees nearly every day last summer. During 2023, there were more than 100 days where it reached 95 degrees inside. Triple digits a quarter of the time.
One study found that approximately 13 percent of deaths behind bars in warm-weather states during summer months may be attributable to extreme heat. That’s not a policy failure. That’s manslaughter with paperwork.
Unsafe heat index temperatures increase violent interactions in prison by 20 percent. High temperatures correlate with a 30 percent increase in daily suicide-watch incidents.
You want to know how bad it gets? Incarcerated people have described splashing toilet water on themselves to keep cool. Some have faked mental health episodes just to get transferred to an air-conditioned psychiatric ward. One person watched other inmates pass out and seize from heat exposure but was too afraid of retaliation to seek medical help.
The problem spans the country. Connecticut’s Correction Ombuds recently described the state’s correctional system as “operating in a state of sustained institutional failure” – citing extreme heat, rodent infestations, and medical negligence. California’s CDCR, meanwhile, has spent $246 million in five years on cooling improvements at just five prisons. North Carolina is working toward air conditioning all 54 state prisons by 2026. Delaware just budgeted $2 million for a single facility.
The issue isn’t unique to any one place. It’s everywhere.
The “They Shouldn’t Have Done the Crime” Problem
Here’s where I stop people cold.
Yeah. Some or many or all people in prison committed crimes (let’s just assume for a moment that everyone incarcerated deserves to be there…for a moment). I get it. The crime was real. The sentence was imposed. That’s the system. But the system doesn’t get to torture people inside it.
I don’t care if someone is inside because they robbed a convenience store or hurt someone. The Eighth Amendment exists for a reason. Cruel and unusual punishment is unconstitutional. Full stop. It’s not conditional on what someone did before they arrived.
And here’s the practical part that even “tough on crime” people should understand: Incarcerated people include those with pre-existing medical ailments, high rates of mental illness and chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and physical immobility. As increasingly long sentences keep people in carceral settings into old age, the proportion of incarcerated people who are 55 or older has ballooned to about five times what it was three decades ago. We can discuss the wisdom of extended incarceration another day. However, for this post, we nee to recognize that there is a point at which incarceration in 85-95-105 degree temperatures becomes cruel and unusual.
You’re cooking someone’s grandfather. Someone’s mother. Someone’s kid who caught the worst charge at the worst time and got the longest sentence. And you’re doing it in triple-digit heat with no air conditioning while you sit in your climate-controlled office.
On a good day, prison life is no picnic. Everyone knows that. The loss of freedom, the noise, the violence, the food, the separation from loved ones—it’s punishment. Real punishment. But suffering through extreme heat that increases violence, triggers seizures, and drives people to attempt suicide? That’s not punishment anymore. That’s torture.
The Cost Excuse Doesn’t Hold Water
The estimates vary by state. Texas says it would cost more than $1.5 billion to fully cool its entire prison system. That number gets thrown around like it’s an impossibility.
But when states care about something, they find the money. Delaware’s fiscal year 2026 capital budget includes $2 million for air conditioning at one facility. North Carolina has committed to full air conditioning across all 54 prisons by 2026. California’s CDCR has allocated $17.6 million for a pilot program. Not perfect. But moving.
Not impossible. Just not a priority.
The Hard Truth
This isn’t complicated. Incarcerate people, sure. Enforce the law, sure. Hold people accountable.
But don’t torture them.
Because when you do, you’re not just punishing the person inside. You’re guaranteeing worse outcomes for everyone when they get out. You’re guaranteeing higher recidivism. You’re guaranteeing more trauma, more untreated mental health issues, more likelihood of reoffending.
You’re undoing your own system’s stated goal of rehabilitation.
In April, during Second Chance Month, we talk about what’s possible after incarceration. But right now, in Texas, Connecticut, California, and a dozen other states, people are being cooked alive in cells—not as punishment, but as neglect.
That’s not a second chance. That’s not even a first chance to survive.
Call your representatives. Ask them why we have heat standards for animals but not for people in prison. Ask them why a billionaire can launch a rocket but we can’t figure out how to install air conditioning in 52 Texas prisons.
Ask them. Demand answers.
Because Second Chance Month only means something if we let people live long enough to take it.
Breaking Free Industries hires people with conviction histories. We believe in second chances. We also believe in acknowledging the brutal conditions people face inside the system before they can take those chances.
If you care about criminal justice reform, we’re here for that conversation too.
Second chances work better when the system doesn’t poison you first.
