"Steve Brooks’ cell has no windows or air conditioning, so he relies on two eight-inch fans when it’s stifling inside California’s oldest prison. There’s no access to ice or cold water, and during periodic power outages, there’s no electricity.
“It’s kind of like you’re hyperventilating. The room’s closing in,” said Brooks, who’s incarcerated in San Quentin Rehabilitation Center and has published articles about extreme heat behind bars.
During an eight-hour outage in 2024, the heat rose to between 90 and 100 degrees Fahrenheit (32 and 38 degrees Celsius). “It was just really scary.” It felt, he said, like he was running out of oxygen.
As climate change fuels hotter temperatures, inmates are increasingly vulnerable."
Dorany Pineda reports for the Associated Press September 30, 2026.
