Developing a Heat-Related Social Vulnerability Index for Correctional Facilities
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2020-12
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Abstract
Climate change, driven by increasing greenhouse gas emissions, has caused and will continue to cause increasing temperatures across the United States (Hayhoe et al. 2018). Extreme heat contributes to a variety of health complications and illnesses, as well as death (Jones 2019). Some populations are more vulnerable to its impacts than others – one such population is the incarcerated population (Crimmins et al. 2016). The U.S. is responsible for 20 percent of the world’s prisoners, and many correctional facilities lack adequate ventilation, air flow, and cooling equipment to protect incarcerated people from the life-threatening impacts of extreme heat (Holt 2015; Sawyer and Wagner 2020)
This project develops a comparison tool to integrate historical and projected heat index data with social vulnerability data, called the Correctional Facilities Heat Vulnerability Index (CFHVI). A research review of available data was conducted to determine which states and which demographic factors to include in the CFHVI. Seven geographically representative states were selected from the contiguous 48 states, along with three factors for each category: incarcerated population factors, staff factors, and facility factors. The results of the tool indicate that states with high CFHVI results, corresponding with high vulnerability to heat, should be prioritized in receiving adaptive measures to avoid health complications from heat among inmates and staff in correctional facilities.
Historical, mid-century, and late century data for the projected average number of days with a heat index of 90°F were used from the Union of Concerned Scientists, at the state level and at the county level for counties containing correctional facilities in each state (Dahl et al. 2019). The results indicate that observing just heat index data is an incomplete picture to assess the vulnerability of an incarcerated population, though significant data limitations did impact results. The paper makes recommendations about how to reduce heat-related health impacts in correctional facilities, by collecting and reporting data, implementing adaptive measures like air conditioning, and reducing the overall prison population in the United States.
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climate change, extreme heat, incarceration, heat-related illness