Record-high Temperatures in Florida
This week, the heat index is expected to be between 105-110 in Raiford, where Florida's death row is housed without air conditioning.
According to several sources, last week was one of the hottest weeks in history for parts of the country, including Florida.
On Thursday, the Washington Post reported:
Florida is in the midst of its hottest year in modern history, and there’s little sign of meaningful relief. Even in a state known for its warm weather, the prolonged siege of heat and humidity is extreme.
. . . .
On The Washington Post’s heat tracker, Jacksonville’s predicted 107-degree heat index was the highest of any city in the nation on Wednesday. On Thursday, the forecast heat index of 105 is tied for second highest.
For Florida’s death row, the heat index is about the same. On July 8 at 1:50 p.m., the heat index in Raiford, where Florida’s death row is located, was 110 degrees:
Heat advisories have been issued across the State over the past week.
Here’s the heat index prediction for Lake City (the closest city to Raiford, where death row is located, that was available), starting July 9 according to the Washington Post’s heat tracker:
The women on Florida’s death row are at Lowell Correctional Institution in Gainesville, where the weather is similar.
On Death Row
What does the weather have to do with Florida’s death row?
No Air Conditioning
Florida’s death row does not have air conditioning. On the prison tour earlier this year,1 I asked Department of Corrections officials why, and the answer was that it’s due to the age of the building, infrastructure, and lack of funding. They said that there are fans and that it’s “not that bad.”
Health Concerns
Without air conditioning in the extreme heat, those on death row could face serious health concerns. The Washington Post reports that “[e]xtreme heat kills more people in the United States than any other weather hazard.” They explain that “[h]eat disorders such as heat stroke, heat cramps and heat exhaustion are possible with any extended exposure to a heat index at or above 90 degrees.” Further
Heat illness can set in quickly — in as little as 10 to 15 minutes — when your body overheats and can’t properly cool itself off. This can lead to muscle cramps or spasms, heavy sweating, weakness or tiredness, abnormal pulse rate, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, headache, confusion, fainting, loss of consciousness or death.
Here’s a guide the New York Times posted as to how heightened heat index levels affect the body:
These health concerns are especially dangerous for the aging population on death row. As of July 8, the average age of Florida’s death row population was 56.09.2 On the same date, there were 33 people on Florida’s death row over 70 years old.
News Articles About the Florida Heat
Eleventh Circuit’s 2004 Decision About the Heat on Florida’s Death Row
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit addressed the heat on Florida’s death row in its 2004 decision in Chandler v. Crosby.
In August 2000, Jim Chandler and William Kelley—inmates on Florida’s death row—filed a complaint, on behalf of themselves and others on Florida’s death row, against the Department of Corrections “alleg[ing] that the high temperatures in their cells during the summer months amount to ‘cruel and unusual punishment’ under the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution.”
NOTE: According to DOC records, William Kelley is still on Florida’s death row. He is 80 years old. According to news reports, Jim Chandler died while on death row at the age of 55 in 2010.
On March 24, 2003, after a trial, the trial court denied relief. On appeal, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the denial.
In its opinion, the Eleventh Circuit explained the unit where Chandler and Kelly lived on death row as:
The Unit is home to some three hundred death row prisoners. It is a concrete structure consisting of six wings. Each wing has two floors, and each floor has twenty-eight cells, which are arranged into two back-to-back rows of fourteen. Each cell front faces an outside wall of the Unit. There are two windows on the walls across from each cell. They open with handcranks.
Between the cell fronts and the prison wall is a bifurcated walkway. The outer walkway, or “secure catwalk,” is immediately adjacent to the exterior wall. The inner walkway is immediately adjacent to the cell fronts. Bars separate the outer and inner walkways. The walkways together are between eight and ten feet wide.
The cells are arranged back to back. Between the backs of the cells is the “chase,” which is, in the district court's words, “a long corridor” “that contains plumbing, duct work and electrical services for the cells.” The chase accommodates the two systems that are relevant to our analysis: the winter heating system and the summer ventilation system.3
In the winter, the Unit is heated. In the summer, as of 2004:
At present, the summer ventilation system is the only mechanism the prison employs to provide relief from the summer heat. The Unit has neither circulating fans nor air conditioning, and the exhaust vents are not designed to cool the air. In summers past, prison officials sought to provide further relief by running the “air handlers,” i.e., the heating system without the furnace. This circulated more air into the cells, and the inmates deflected this air onto themselves by attaching various items (most frequently, the cardboard backings of legal pads) to the heater vents in the cells. For security reasons, prison officials now forbid the use of these makeshift “air deflectors.” Furthermore, at the recommendation of the prison engineers, the guards no longer activate the air handlers during the summer.4
The trial court in that case determined that “the ‘Unit has a very slow thermal response compared with the outdoor air because it is a concrete building . . . . Thus, the building mass remains at a relatively constant temperature, between approximately eighty degrees at night [and] approximately eighty-five or eighty-six degrees during the day.’ ”
As to the humidity inside the building, the trial court determined:
“When the ventilation system is running per design, the relative humidity in the building rarely rises above seventy percent, the humidity level needed to support the growth of mold and mildew[, and] heat, odors and contaminants are exhausted out of the building.” As to the latter, the court found that the ventilation system, when working properly, circulated air as well or better than other “[t]ypical [ ] comfort ventilation systems.” Crucially, the court determined that “the system was operating within the range of design parameters.”5
As to the merits of the claims, the Court wrote that “a prisoner’s mere discomfort, without more, does not offend the Eighth Amendment.”6
The Court determined that the plaintiffs did not meet their burden of establishing “extreme deprivations” to establish a right to relief, writing:
First, while no one would call the summertime temperatures at the Unit pleasant, the heat is not unconstitutionally excessive. The district court found that “the building mass remains at a relatively constant temperature, between approximately eighty degrees at night to approximately eighty-five or eighty-six degrees during the day.” The cells were sometimes hotter than this, but not often. According to the district court's dispositive order, “[o]n average, inmates on the ... Unit may have experienced temperatures over ninety degrees nine percent of the time during the months of July and August 1998 and July of 1999.” During those same months, “the temperature was recorded at ninety-five degrees or higher on only seven occasions,” and “there were no readings ... that exceeded 100 degrees.” At the hottest times of the day, it is cooler in the cells than it is outdoors. In light of these facts, we agree with the district court’s finding that “the temperatures and ventilation on the . . . Unit during the summer months are almost always consistent with reasonable levels of comfort and slight discomfort which are to be expected in a residential setting in Florida in a building that is not air-conditioned.”
Second, the Unit is equipped with a ventilation system that effectively manages air circulation and humidity. . . .
Third, apart from the ventilation system, numerous conditions at the Unit alleviate rather than exacerbate the heat. The cells are not exposed to any direct sunlight because, as the district court found, “the attic acts as a buffer between the solar heat and the second floor cells of the . . . Unit by absorbing the solar radiation.” The inmates are not required to wear many clothes, and most wear only shorts in the summer months. The district court determined that “every cell has a sink with hot and cold running water, and every inmate possesses a drinking cup.” The inmates are generally sedentary; they may, but need not, exercise twice per week, and as far as the record discloses, they are not compelled to perform prison labor. Furthermore, the inmates have some limited opportunities to gain relief in air-conditioned areas, e.g., during visitation time.
This is based on the death row roster as of June 16, 2023.
Chandler v. Crosby, 379 F.3d 1278, 1283 (11th Cir. 2004) (footnote omitted).
Id. at 1284 (footnote omitted).
Id. at 1285-86 (footnotes omitted).
Id. at 1295.