Incarcerated people in Colorado face climate-related extremes of heat and cold, as well as floods and wildfires. Since they cannot escape these dangers, their health suffers and some even die.

"I remember it was summer and there was no way to avoid the sun. I remember people burning," said one former incarcerated person. "My (inmate) at the time... he was out all day. He was blue in the face and had so much swelling on his head that you could put your thumb on his forehead and (the mark) would stay."

Another told how they escaped the heat by pouring water on the floor of their cell to create a shallow pool.

"Of course, it's only a quarter of an inch deep at most," they said. "But you just take off your underwear and lie on the floor in the water."

Exposure to extreme heat and other hazards caused by climate change are not unique to Colorado jails and prisons. A study of incarcerated deaths in Texas between 2001 and 2019 found that more than 3,000 deaths during that period, or 13%, were likely attributable to heat.

1.2 million people are incarcerated in the U.S., while climate disasters increase in intensity and frequency

Incarcerated individuals lack the ability to evacuate or otherwise protect themselves from heat, cold, wildfires, or these disasters. This simple fact prompted us to investigate the vulnerability of Colorado’s incarcerated people to climate hazards.

We are a collective of scholars in the fields of architecture, environmental communication, geotechnical hazard engineering, geography, sociology and structural engineering. For the past four years, we have been taking a closer look at the vulnerability of prison facilities—buildings such as prisons, jails, and detention facilities—to climate hazards. During that time, we also studied the experiences of formerly incarcerated people. The results of our research include three papers, an exhibition at the University of Colorado Boulder, and two workshops.

We analyzed the risk of wildfires, flooding, extreme temperatures and landslides at 110 Colorado prison facilities. We do this by mapping facility locations and hazard exposures from single and multiple climate events, such as flooding or a combination of fire and heat.

We found that 75% of the facilities we studied had moderate or high relative exposure to one or more hazards. These facilities house approximately 33,300 people, accounting for 83% of Colorado's incarcerated population.

Incarcerated People's Stories

In our most recent 2022-2023 research, we conducted a series of interviews and focus groups with formerly incarcerated people in Colorado to understand how climate hazards impact their daily lives in custody.

We found that climate-related extreme temperatures, wildfires and flooding events affected the majority, accounting for about 65% of the 35 study participants. To check the validity of the information we learned from this small sample, we compared the information collected to other surveys and projects and found that they were consistent.

The people we interviewed experienced prolonged exposure to temperatures above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius) and below freezing, poor air quality and water pollution. We found that Black and Latino people are disproportionately exposed to these dangers based on the location of incarceration facilities.

Their stories are harrowing.

“Sometimes it’s so cold in the winter that I put on every piece of clothing I have on,” one participant said. "I dare not sleep at night because it feels too cold and I can't wake up. In the morning, the toilet is made of steel, so there will be ice in the toilet."

Another participant described smoke from nearby wildfires.

"The smoke actually woke me up and it was suffocating. I just couldn't breathe, just coughing and coughing," the participant said. "I asked if I could go to the doctor and they just said, 'No, you can't go to the doctor right now. There's nothing we can do."

As extreme temperatures become more common, we believe it's important to collect stories like this. They provide insights into experiences that may otherwise go unheard and provide data to more accurately quantify the risks faced by incarcerated people. We hope that the record of actual situations will provide evidence that can be used for advocacy and reform.

compound effect

We found three common ways incarcerated people respond to climate vulnerability: trying to change their environment, buying commissaries, and filing formal complaints.

"When it's this hot, you complain, you get dehydrated because you can't go to the fountain and everyone is angry, angry, angry," said one study participant. "You have symptoms of heat exhaustion, your brain isn't working at full speed, and you're sitting there trying to do the right thing, trying to follow their procedures."

This participant and others told us that if they made a mistake in their formal complaint—whether it was misspelling a word or using the wrong technical term for the issue at hand—their appeals could be dismissed.

Study participants also talked about retaliation for grievances. One interviewee said prison staff would "make the worst of it" if they were to press charges. They worry that inmates may have their privileges taken away or, as one participant explained, people may be suddenly moved to another facility. This move could disrupt important connections with family, visitors and their internal community.

Experiences such as these were confirmed by multiple participants. Prison officials did not respond to our request for more information about their facilities or the exposure of incarcerated people to extreme weather conditions.

Lack of knowledge about prisons

Talking to formerly incarcerated people about their experiences made us eager to see the facilities we were studying reliably assessing risk, but it was nearly impossible to get permission to enter the prisons or talk to the people inside.

We requested to see building plans or engineering drawings so we could analyze situations where facility staff and incarcerated people were exposed to dangers such as extreme temperatures or flooding, but were denied. Corrections officials say our request raises safety concerns.

Regardless of their function, jails and prisons must ensure the safety of their residents. We believe Colorado’s current prison infrastructure fails to provide humane spaces to protect against increasingly severe and frequent climate hazards. This causes unjust human suffering and hinders the ability of incarcerated people to stay healthy.