Inmates with Heat-Sensitive Health Conditions: Surveying Prisoner Litigation in the Age of Climate Change-Reference-Cited by-同舟云学术

Inmates with Heat-Sensitive Health Conditions: Surveying Prisoner Litigation in the Age of Climate Change

Published:2023-04-09 Issue: Volume: Page:073401682311667
ISSN:0734-0168
Container-title:Criminal Justice Review
language:en
Short-container-title:Criminal Justice Review

Author:

Palacios Jazmin E.¹^ORCID,Vaughn Michael S.²

Affiliation:

1. Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA

2. Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Institute for Legal Studies in Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, USA

Abstract

Rising temperatures and severe heat, as a result of climate change, have led to a significant number of heat-related deaths and injuries among correctional populations in the United States. This article analyzes cases from the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals in which inmates challenged the constitutionality of their conditions of confinement in extremely hot facilities pursuant Title 42 U.S. Code Section 1983. An inductive analysis of caselaw revealed two themes: inmates with heat-sensitive health conditions and reasonable staff responses to inmate's heat exposure. The article concludes by offering policy guidance to prison officials based on the themes revealed in the circuit court decisions and by providing recommendations for future research.

Publisher

SAGE Publications

Subject

Law

Link

http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/07340168231166748

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