Clare Farley and Disha Raychaudhuri of Reuters write about how the news service collected data on rising prison temperatures for a story.
Farley and Raychaudhuri write, “In February 2024, Reuters submitted public records requests, asking for a spreadsheet or electronic record indicating the presence of air conditioning in housing units in each adult prison. Thirty-five states responded, with 29 states providing records and six states either denying our request or responding they did not possess or maintain records.
“The Bureau of Prisons, which oversees all 122 federal prisons, did not respond to Reuters’ request seeking information on how many facilities have air conditioning.
“In December 2024, Reuters submitted an additional round of public records requests, seeking spreadsheets or electronic records on the daily internal temperature readings for each housing area in every adult prison, covering the period from December 1, 2023, to December 1, 2024. Based on interviews with incarcerated individuals, the presence of air conditioning alone did not guarantee relief and adequately comfortable temperatures inside. Reuters identified 16 states across the country that were either in heat-prone areas or provided limited air conditioning. The federal Bureau of Prisons was not included in this request.
“Responses to these requests came in the form of emails, spreadsheets and PDFs.”
Read more here.
