""Prison is stressful enough, and then you add this layer of heat that people are powerless to escape.”"

"The number of suicide watch incidents in Louisiana prisons increased by 30 percent on extreme heat days, a recently published study in the JAMA Journal found. Researchers from Emory University analyzed data from 2015 to 2017 to examine how the heat index related to suicide watch incidents in six prisons. At the time, only one had air conditioning.

Scientists classified days into six categories according to their average heat index, and also created an “extreme heat indicator” for those that were hotter than 90 percent of the days. The number of people put under suicide watch increased 36 percent when the heat index was above 90 degrees and 30 percent on the extreme heat days, which in most cases were even hotter.

The study adds to the body of research that has found a link between suicide and hot weather, but also to new research on prison mortality and climate."

Gina Jiménez reports for Inside Climate News August 18, 2023. [2]