Mortality data link US prisoner deaths to extreme heat

This week, as record-breaking temperatures are being recorded around the world, many incarcerated people in US prisons continue to suffer and die in the heat while serving time. In their article published in PLoS ONE, Skarha et al. used data from the Mortality in Correctional Institutions (MCI) series of studies to evaluate the potential link between maximum daily temperatures in the months of June, July, and August and mortality in prisons. The data in the MCI series is collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the studies are maintained by the National Archive of Criminal Justice (NACJD). The series provides quarterly data on death records collected in each state’s prison system, including juvenile correctional facilities and 3,095 jails, as well as quarterly records of deaths occuring during arrest in 17,784 state and local law enforcement agencies. The records include information on each person’s characteristics, their past criminal activity, and details on each death itself.

The article, published in March, combined 2001-2019 data from MCI with hourly temperature data for each location in an attempt to fill the gap in literature concerning the “impacts of heat among incarcerated populations.” The authors evaluated 12,836 deaths that occurred during the summer months between 2001 and 2019 in 962 state or private prison facilities, and found “a 10°F increase was associated with a 5.2 percent … increase in total mortality and a 6.7 percent … increase in heart disease mortality.” Those individuals over 65 who were incarcerated less than a year in the Northeast were more likely to experience heat-related mortality. A work by Skarha et al. published last year using the MCI data, found that 13 percent of deaths in Texas prisons for the same time period could be attributed to extreme heat and lack of air conditioning. More research regarding the unique conditions of incarceration (“work conditions, solitary confinement, or restriction of resources”), availability of air conditioning in prisons nationwide, and the effects of climate change on incarceration is necessary to fully understand temperature-related mortality in the prison system.