Data and solutions for the impacts of climate-related extremes on incarcerated people in the United States

A 36-month research programme bringing together academic, formerly incarcerated, community, policy, legal and journalism partners.

  1. Heat
  2. Wildfires
  3. Tropical cyclones
  4. Floods
  5. Water quality

Overview

Nearly 2 million people are incarcerated in the United States, most in facilities without universal air conditioning and with poor ventilation. Incarcerated people face growing exposure to heat, wildfires, tropical cyclones, floods and poor water quality.

  • Most states

    have no policy mandating universal air conditioning in prisons

  • About 2 in 3

    state Departments of Corrections do not publicly disclose emergency plans for crises such as wildfires and hurricanes

Who is at risk

  • An increasingly older population
  • Disproportionately people of colour
  • High rates of chronic illness
  • Unable to change their surroundings to reduce harm
  • Little research on how climate extremes affect their health

What we do

Who we work with

Evidence collection

Activities 1 to 3 generate new evidence through exposure assessment, epidemiology and intervention studies.

  1. 1

    National exposure assessment

    How does historical and projected exposure to climate-related extremes vary across US carceral facilities?

  2. 2

    Climate extremes and mortality

    What are the associations between climate-related extremes and cause-specific mortality in US carceral facilities?

  3. 3

    Mitigation and intervention assessment

    How well do climate mitigation measures, such as air conditioning, protect the health of incarcerated people?

Engagement and policy

Activities 4 to 6 focus on community engagement, public tools and dissemination, turning the evidence into policy and public action.

  1. 4

    Community engagement

    Focus groups with formerly incarcerated people, community organisers, legal experts and legislators to identify how the findings can drive policy change at every scale.

  2. 5

    Toxic Prisons Mapping Project

    Informing and updating the map to share results and support real-time disaster response.

  3. 6

    Dissemination

    Sharing results and the direct experiences of currently and formerly incarcerated people through publications, media and public events.

Toxic Prisons Mapping Project

A participatory research initiative, built with Fight Toxic Prisons, that maps the environmental hazards facing prisons, jails and detention centres across the United States. Our work informs and updates it with new evidence on climate-related extremes and health.

Schematic map of the contiguous United States showing the climate-related hazards the Toxic Prisons Mapping Project covers: heat, wildfires, tropical cyclones, floods and water quality

Hazards

Active and forecast environmental hazards from public real-time sources

Insights

Facility-level data and environmental indicators, updated with our exposure and health findings

Storytelling

Narratives from people with lived experience of incarceration and their loved ones

Open the Toxic Prisons Mapping Project

Dissemination

We share our findings in two complementary ways: media stories developed collaboratively with journalists, and policy briefs for decision-makers.

Media stories

  • Developed collaboratively with journalism faculty and students at the Columbia Journalism School
  • News stories, features, podcasts, oral-history-style narratives and animations
  • A collaborative class developing story ideas on climate change, public health and incarceration

Policy briefs

  • Built on our evidence, best practice and community engagement
  • Recommendations for federal, state and local decision-makers
  • An annual report for legislators and a national conference to share results

Timeline

Timeline of the six project activities over 36 months, grouped into three steps: exposure assessment and epidemiological research (activities 1 to 3), community engagement and tools for real-time response (activities 4 and 5), and dissemination to support legal action and legislation (activity 6).202620272028161218243036Month1Exposure assessment and epidemiological research1National exposure assessmentHistorical and projected climate-relatedextremes at carceral facilitiesData and analysisPublications2Climate extremes and mortalityAssociations with cause-specific mortalityData and analysisPublications3Mitigation and intervention assessmentProtective effects of climate mitigationmeasuresData and analysisPublicationsOutputs2Community engagement and tools for real-time response4Community engagementWith formerly incarcerated people,organisers, lawyers and legislatorsEngagementPublicationsOutputs5Toxic Prisons Mapping ProjectResults and real-time disasterresponseEngagementOutputs3Disseminate findings to support legal action and legislation6DisseminationPublications, media and public eventsPublicationsOutputsData collection and analysisManuscript preparation and publicationCommunity engagementConcrete outputs, such as the mapping tool and policy proposals
Scroll sideways to see the full timeline.

Partners

The project brings together academic, formerly incarcerated, community, policy, legal and journalism partners.

  • Columbia UniversityLead institution
  • Fight Toxic PrisonsCommunity partner
  • University of ArizonaAcademic partner
  • SUNY Downstate Health Sciences UniversityAcademic partner
  • Aix-Marseille UniversityAcademic partner
  • Dartmouth CollegeAcademic partner
Wellcome

Supported by Wellcome

Funded through a Wellcome Climate Impacts Award.