There are no federal laws mandating temperature control in prisons and jails. An FAQ on the website for National Institute of Corrections (NIC), the federal agency intended to support corrections agencies across the country, gives a complex answer to the question of ideal temperature. “Not everybody ‘feels’ temperature or comfort the same,” it begins. Still, NIC requires that the warden and the assistant commissioner be notified when temperatures drop below 68 degrees in all areas and are above 80 degrees in specific areas1. 

A Federal Bureau of Prisons operation manual from 2016 states that temperatures “will be targeted to 76 degrees Fahrenheit in the cooling season and 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the heating season,” but adds that “due to issues such as the age of the cooling and heating systems and the inability to control temperatures in individual spaces, occupants may experience a range of temperatures in their space that is a few degrees on either side of the targeted set point.” 

Alexi Jones, a policy analyst for the Prison Policy Initiative who authored the air conditioning report, said there is a lack of federal, state, and local legislation around temperature control in jails and prisons, leaving much up to the discretion of corrections officials. “There may be guidelines, but there are very few actual laws that regulate it,” Jones said. “Between county jails, state prison systems, and federal prison systems, it’s a very patchwork system of regulations on temperature control.”

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• 1. And while there are no federal laws about regulating temperatures, federal courts have found that extreme temperatures can be a violation of prisoners’ rights to be free of cruel and unusual punishment, such as in a 1991 case where the Supreme Court recognized that low cell temperatures and a failure to issue blankets could be an Eighth Amendment violation. Federal courts have also recognized temperature control as part of pretrial detainees’ rights to due process, such as in a case in Arizona where a federal appeals court instituted federal oversight of Maricopa County jails to ensure livable conditions, including livable temperatures.