Engulfed in Flames: Palliative Strategies for Prison Climate Adaptation

From Hurricane Katrina to the 2021 West Coast wildfires, recent history shows that prisons are unprepared for natural disasters. As a result, incarcerated people experience smoke-filled cells, toxic flooding, and abandonment in unplanned evacuations. Climate change is accelerating the occurrence of natural disasters, creating pressing issues for modern prison infrastructure. Previous scholarship has explored systemic solutions to the issue of prison climate adaptation, such as climate change mitigation and decreasing prison populations. However, long-term solutions fail to address the immediacy of climate emergencies, which affect prisons now. Incarcerated people trapped in the path of today’s floods and fires need short-term solutions while systemic efforts develop.