As another round of extreme low temperatures sweeps parts of the U.S., people in dilapidated jails and prisons face an increased risk of illness and even death.
The threat of losing power, poor heating systems and a general lack of medical attention can compound problems in frigid conditions.
Hypothermia, the medical term for loss of body heat, has contributed in recent years to the deaths of two people behind bars in Atlanta and Pennsylvania.
A government-commissioned study last year found that extreme cold weather over several days was associated with an 11% increased mortality rate in prisons, with a particularly sharp rise in suicides.
With the surge in immigrant enforcement, advocacy organizations are also concerned about the conditions at federal detention facilities as the number of detainees, including children, has ballooned. According to the Deportation Data Project, the number of detention beds for people arrested in the interior of the country more than tripled, to over 43,000 by fall 2025. The number of detained children has jumped more than sixfold, to 170 on an average day.
“No one should be forced to face extreme cold, and there are well-documented cases of people in immigration detention facing harmful and abusive cold conditions,” said Shayna Kessler, director of the Vera Institute of Justice’s Advancing Universal Representation Initiative, which seeks to provide an attorney for those at risk of deportation.
Dr. William Weber, medical director of the Medical Justice Alliance, an organization that advocates for medical care for incarcerated people, said the infrastructure in jails and prisons in many U.S. states is inadequate when it comes to extreme weather. That’s especially true when it comes to winter in the South, he said, where he’s heard of cell walls covered in frost.
Cold temperatures aggravate health problems like asthma and sickle cell disease. Exposure can lead to dangerous and even life-threatening situations, he said.
Better data needs to be collected on indoor temperatures in prisons and jails, Weber said, and agencies should have extreme weather plans in place, especially for medically vulnerable people.
Chloe Aquart, director of the Restoring Promise Initiative with the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit working to end mass incarceration, said nearly every state, if not all, is grappling with aging infrastructure when it comes to extreme weather.
Aquart said the solution isn’t to build new facilities, but rather to lower incarceration rates. Additionally, people should have access to weather-appropriate bedding and clothing, and should be allowed to receive those items from their loved ones.
Reporters from The Marshall Project’s local news teams in Cleveland, Jackson and St. Louis heard from incarcerated people and advocates about the challenges cold temperatures were creating in the wake of record lows and heavy snowfall. Temperatures this weekend are expected to drop into the single digits in St. Louis and Cleveland, and into the teens in parts of Mississippi, which seldom sees deep freezes.
Cleveland, Ohio
Chilly cells are a common complaint in Ohio jails and prisons.
“It’s truly cold in here, even when the heat works,” said Billy Renshaw, who is incarcerated at Pickaway Correctional Institution in central Ohio.
Parts of the central Ohio prison date back to its days as a mental health institution from the 1920s. Men inside protested the cold this week after a boiler failed on Monday night and wasn’t repaired until Wednesday evening, according to JoEllen Smith, chief of communications for the state prison system.
Renshaw said he was the only person in his unit of more than 120 men to shower Tuesday morning. He said there was barely any water pressure, and he had to sponge ice-cold water that trickled down the wall onto his body.
“ATTN! Announcement being made at this moment,” he messaged a reporter on Tuesday. “We’ll be moved to the gym if it gets any colder in the dorm. LOL. The gym doesn’t have any heat.”
Smith said incarcerated individuals were provided extra blankets.
The state prison system temporarily paused visitation on Jan. 25 and 26 due to the winter storm.
Jackson, Mississippi
The winter storm knocked out power on Jan. 24 at two prisons in the Delta, which is in the northwest part of the state. The Mississippi Department of Corrections confirmed that Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood and the Mississippi State Penitentiary, also known as Parchman, experienced power outages through late Sunday night.
Mississippi Emergency Management Agency Executive Director Stephen C. McCraney pointed to the facilities’ aging infrastructure. The Greenwood facility, which houses about 300 incarcerated women, first opened in 1996. Parchman houses more than 2,500 incarcerated people and is the state’s oldest prison, which opened in 1901.
“We knew we were going to have some issues up there. Those are older systems,” McCraney said in a press conference.
McCraney said that his agency had been working at Greenwood three days in advance of the storm, as they received reports that some of the backup power generators there would not work.
The storm not only affected temperature control in the facilities, but also other everyday functions.
Incarcerated people and advocates reported scarce food and water, interrupted access to medical care and the inability to make phone calls. Advocacy organizations, including the Mississippi Impact Coalition, delivered pallets of drinking water to be distributed at Parchman.
Kristi Coker, whose family member is incarcerated at Parchman’s Unit 29, said she’s had to send money so her loved one could buy extra blankets from another incarcerated person. After the power went out Saturday night, she was not able to communicate with him for nearly four days. She also said he was not fed between Saturday night and Sunday night.
“Having a family member down there stresses me out,” Coker said. “I’ve done a lot of praying.”
As of Wednesday afternoon, four days after the prison lost power, Coker said there was still no heat in her loved one’s building. She said incarcerated people in Unit 29 have set fires to stay warm.
“They should have been better prepared,” Coker said.
Prison reform advocates echoed that sentiment.
The Mississippi Department of Corrections “has proven that incarcerated lives do not matter,” said Emilee Shell, programs director at the Mississippi Impact Coalition. “This is not a storm that popped up on us. We were made aware of this storm a couple of weeks in advance. They knew that their generators were not operating properly. They know that in north Mississippi, they are always in the path of severe weather. They should have taken precautions to make sure that these generators were working properly, not just for the storm, but for any occurrence that may happen.”
A spokesperson for the corrections department declined to comment on their preparation for the storm, but said in a statement: “We are thankful to the numerous individuals who worked diligently to ensure that both facilities are fully operational.”
St. Louis
As snow blanketed Missouri and temperatures dropped below zero, Déna Notz, founder of Collectively Changing Corrections, began hearing that men at two prisons were brought outside at night to remove snow. When some refused, they were sent to segregation, where they have very limited time outside of their cells, she wrote in an email to the Missouri Department of Corrections expressing her concerns.
“Slavery still exists, apparently,” Notz said in the message to Trevor Foley, the director of the department, and other officials, and obtained by The Marshall Project - St. Louis.
Karen Pojmann, a spokeswoman for the department, said that those with a job as a “general laborer” were not forced to shovel snow, but were required to report for their work assignments.
As a practicing physician, Weber, with the Medical Justice Alliance, said he encounters multiple patients every year suffering heart attacks from shoveling snow — and those are people who can go indoors to take a break and warm up. No one should have to perform a strenuous activity like shoveling snow if they feel like they physically can’t, Weber said.
A man at a prison in Kentucky died Tuesday after he fell and hit his head while shoveling snow, according to news reports.
Ronald Greer, who is incarcerated at Crossroads Correctional Center, about an hour north of Kansas City, said he’s in a corner cell, which gets colder because there are two outer walls. On Thursday, he said it was sufficiently warm inside, though weeks earlier, it had been very cold. They used to be able to get good-quality gloves and boots, he added, but the items that are issued now are thin, offering little protection from the elements.
A woman at a facility in western Missouri said they heat up water bottles to help keep warm.
Antwann Johnson, who is incarcerated at a prison in eastern Missouri, said some people put cardboard in their windows to try to block the cold. Others have made a paste from toilet paper, soap and water to use as a sealant for windows and cracks.
“This place needs a thorough overhaul,” Johnson said.