Rally in Orlando calls harsh heat inside state-run prisons a ‘crisis’
The growing movement demanding a state-wide solution to what prison reform activists are calling a heat crisis within Florida’s carceral system gained traction this year, with prison officials and lawmakers alike acknowledging the problem and taking steps to address it.
But despite those efforts, little was accomplished.
On Saturday, a group of about two dozen people rallied together in front of Orlando’s City Hall to demand that the situation be taken more seriously amid one of the hottest summers of Florida’s history.
Connie Beroth Edson helped organize the rally and has made it her mission to ensure some sort of cooling system gets put in place inside state-run correctional institutions—most of which were built so long ago they were not designed with air conditioners in mind.
Only 24% of housing dorms governed by the Florida Department of Corrections offer air conditioning, and those that do are typically reserved for people who are ill, pregnant or geriatric.
“With the temperatures reaching close to 110 heat index, this is not something that we can wait till next legislation for,” she said. “There is a solution and it’s something that we can fix now because I believe legislators want to work together and get this problem solved.”
Beroth Edson helped bring about a pilot program launched by the FDC last year to test portable evaporative coolers at Lowell Correctional Institution in Ocala. But delays in receiving the coolers and the very little input received from the FDC of the pilot’s results made it nearly impossible for legislators to push for an expansion of the program during this year’s legislative session.
The issue was brought up several times at state House and Senate committee meetings, with some lawmakers inquiring about the pilot program’s success. Others just wanted to know what steps can be taken to keep not only people who are incarcerated cool, but correctional officers who often have to endure grueling temperatures while working.
“The pilot program that’s going on at Lowell C.I. has been working, whether it’s the ultimate solution, I’m not sure,” Beroth Edson said. “But it’s a solution that we can do right now.”
In response to the hotter-than-average temperatures afflicting the state, the FDC lifted uniform restrictions allowing incarcerated people to wear shorts and a single-layer shirt. An expansion of the pilot program at Lowell C.I. has not been announced, but individual facilities have been accepting donations of portable evaporative coolers.
At the rally, several people shared stories of what the conditions are like inside FDC housing units with no A/C.
Ruben Saldaña, a formerly incarcerated person who now serves as a mentor to Orlando-area children, said he used to keep milk cartons to scoop out the water in his toilet, pour it on the floor and lay on it. It was a common thing people would do inside during the summer, he said.
Matt Umbers, a volunteer who has been teaching wellness practices at an FDC facility in Central Florida for nine months, said incarcerated men were sleeping in sweat-drenched mattresses.
“You don’t want to be the person in the bottom bunk because sweat would be dripping on you and the sweat gets mixed with rust,” he said. “I think the public thinks it’s just heat but there are other consequences to it.”
Speakers at the rally included Keith Harris, the director of the Florida Justice League, which often represents incarcerated people; state Reps. Anna Eskamani and LaVon Bracy Davis; and Mark Caruso, a retired DOC sergeant.
Eskamani made a point to talk about how hot it was during the rally.
“Anyone who complains about it being hot in here, imagine our prisons,” Eskamani said. “The reason why this issue continues to be stalled and delayed and not get the attention it deserves is because many of our lawmakers have never walked into a prison and too many Floridians don’t know what it’s like to have a loved one in a prison.”
