At 9:15 AM, it was already uncomfortably warm in the meeting room in the Lancaster County (PA) jail, where the Prison Board held its June 26th meeting. The room, like most of the aging county correctional facility, lacked air conditioning.
People fanned themselves, sipped bottled water, and checked their watches as the meeting ran over the first hour. As warm as the room was, we were aware that the experience for jail staff and the 800 or so people in the stifling cell blocks was much more difficult.
Pennsylvania’s Secretary of Health had issued a heat advisory for life-threatening weather conditions days earlier. Temperatures in the 90s, accompanied by high humidity, resulted in a heat index of 100 or more, shattering records dating back a century.
How hot is it in the jail cells? Warden Cheryl Steberger’s monthly public reports do not say, but jail visitors have heard it can be hotter inside than outside during the summer. A court ruling this week confirmed an arbitrator’s award granting our unionized correctional officers paid time off for shifts worked in excessive heat, described as temperatures above 80 degrees indoors.
During heat waves, jail staff keep coolers with cold water in common areas and give out cups of ice twice a day with meals. But people report limited access to drinkable water in their cells, and no cold water to splash on their skin, which are basic needs to deal with unrelenting heat. The Warden admitted that the tap water tastes salty when the prison runs weekly water softener treatments. Cooling showers are impossible because the cold water lines run hot, due to the high ambient temperatures.
The Prison Board includes all 3 County Commissioners, the District Attorney, the President Judge, the Sheriff or Deputy Sheriff, and the County Controller. They do not meet in July, so June’s meeting was the only chance for community advocates to ask questions or share concerns until the end of summer. A TV and a newspaper reporter were in the room. Health Policy Network’s videographer recorded the meeting.
When the public comment period started, Board Chair Commissioner Josh Parsons responded dismissively to the first question asked about this week’s dangerous heat by LNP reporter Tom Lisi. Parsons chided the reporter: “You ask this every year.”
Parsons is known for acerbic, curt responses to the press and public when county policies are questioned. I became a target after blowing the whistle last year on a protocol that very likely violated the civil rights of people receiving addiction medications at the jail. Still, Parson’s comment dismayed me. Are they so inured to the poor conditions at our jail that it is not worth the Board’s time to discuss people’s welfare there, during a new, severe weather emergency?
The Warden reported a population of 813 people, on average, in Lancaster’s jail in May, approximately 10% more than last year. Weather experts warn that record temperatures could become the new normal due to climate change. When conditions change, solutions have to evolve too.
Following a disastrous 1995 heat wave that killed more than 1,000 people in the Midwest, heat emergency reponse plans became a tenet of public health management. For example, expanded summer cooling centers were opened for seniors and others with medical conditions around Lancaster County this week.
Can we find a way to give jail inhabitants respite in air-conditioned spaces during heat emergencies? Just two of the 13 housing blocks have air conditioning, but jail data shows close to 70 people are elderly, and there are more than 300 with pulmonary or cardiac conditions, diabetes, hepatitis, or another diagnosis linked to increased health risk in high heat.
Common areas in cell blocks use large industrial fans in the summer, but the moving air doesn’t reach individual cells, where inmates spend most of their time. Plus, health experts know that it can get too hot for a fan to help above 95 degrees, although the danger threshold might extend as high as 104.
People in jail have limited options to call attention to the sweltering heat conditions they are enduring. Last week some messaged their families that people were refusing to eat as a protest. One cell block briefly refused to return to their cells. The Warden said the actions were typical jail behavior, and not concerning.
I left the Prison Board meeting feeling that the dangers of extreme heat were being dismissed as old news and not being addressed scientifically. For example, the Prison Board did not request objective information on the temperature in the cells, the tap water temperature, or the rates of new medical service calls. The Warden is undoubtedly doing the best she can, with the resources and direction she has been given. The issue is whether our leaders have the political will to be more proactive and provide additional resources, including a more comprehensive emergency response that citizens under legal supervision deserve.
Incarcerated people are among the most marginalized members of our community. It is not uncommon for public opinion to lean against jail improvements, as people incarcerated there are
often perceived as deserving punishment. Many are unaware that 50-70% of the jail’s detainees are waiting for their day in court or a sentence or other final outcome. They may not know that Black and Latino Lancastrians are jailed at higher rates than their white neighbors. Incarceration penalizes the poor, who lack the funds for cash bail. However, it does not matter if detainees have been convicted of a crime. Unsafe jail environments are an unconstitutional form of punishment under the 8th Amendment, including extreme heat conditions.
Mount Joy Police Chief Robert Goshen, in a presentation to the Board, echoed themes argued last year, by the coalition, Reimagine Justice Lancaster. (Health Policy Network is part of this group.) Chief Goshen said fewer people would have to go to our jail if we could streamline our inefficient booking and processing system, which impedes proper risk assessments. The police
chiefs called our county’s system “broken” explaining why a 24/7 Central Booking and Processing space in the new county jail will fix the problem. The space is included in the draft design, but it is considered an optional element.
As the meeting ended, I asked, If the system is broken now, how can we wait for the new jail to open, now projected for 2028 at the earliest. Why can’t we find and fund an interim Central Booking location, especially if this can reduce the cost of putting more people in jail? Chief Brian Wiczkowski, President of the Lancaster County Chiefs of Police Association, responded that interim reforms are always being discussed. However, he also said that these discussions go back two decades.
Temperatures above 90 degrees used to happen about 12 days a year in Lancaster County. With Pennsylvania’s summer temperatures increasing, we may exceed the four heatwaves of 2024. What would an evidence-based response look like?
First, keep temperature logs and publish the data. We must track temperatures and humidity levels in each cell block to calculate the heat index that jail staff and detainees experience. We should also closely examine the medical service calls that correlate with heat emergencies and document which detainees are most vulnerable due to their health status.
Second, when the heat index becomes dangerous, provide 24/7 access to ice and cold water, and respite breaks in cooled air, for everyone. Access to ice machines, sports drinks, and breaks to rest in cooler air was negotiated for correctional officers by their union to enable them to perform their jobs safely on high-heat days. When their health is at risk, we must do what it takes to provide the same interventions to all. This includes reexamining options to install more air conditioning. In the short term, perhaps an emergency plan can be devised to relocate detainees to a respite unit with conditioned air in shifts throughout the day, based on objective risk thresholds.
Third, we can reduce the jail population during health emergencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, President Judge Ashworth ordered the early release of more than 75 people in the jail, citing a moral and ethical responsibility to act urgently. His efforts, in collaboration with District Attorney Heather Adams’ office, resulted in a 100-person drop in the jail population later in 2020. The average count reached a low of 644, numbers last seen in the early 1990s. Reducing
jail populations for health emergencies can be achieved again, without compromising community safety.
When the county SPCA’s air conditioning broke this past week, they fostered their animals out. We also need to address extreme indoor temperatures as an emergency at the jail.
No one disputes the flaws of Lancaster County Prison’s building, which dates back to 1858. In 2020, our Commissioners, to their credit, initiated the process to build a new jail after years of the decision being deferred. They’ve addressed other evolving needs of the jail, from increased
salaries for staff to expanded addiction treatment. Since the majority of the Commissioners have chosen not to create a county public health department, which our peer counties rely on for a heat emergency response, can the Lancaster County Emergency Management Agency step in? They could work with public health experts and county judicial and correctional stakeholders to develop an evidence-based plan to address dangerous heat conditions at the jail immediately.
*County jails, like Lancaster’s, are where people are held prior to trial and serve sentences for under a year. However, our jail’s official name is “Lancaster County Prison” or “LCP”, although the term “prison” is most commonly used to describe state and federal correctional facilities, where individuals serve longer sentences.
Health Policy Network’s YouTube channel for Prison Board meetings at the jail (the 1/3 of Prison Board meetings, the county declines to livestream and record): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZBeFr0Lr1nZ_l6VB618UWg
Media coverage of the June 2025 Prison Board meeting:
Warden addresses prisoners’ refusal to eat over heat in Lancaster County Prison, Tom Lisi, LNP/ LancasterOnline 6/26/2025 4:45 PM
https://lancasteronline.com/news/local/warden-addresses-prisoners-refusal-to-eat-over-heat-in lancaster-county-prison/article_d9012770-31a6-42e1-a665-04a1e0e69435.html
Lancaster County Prison inmates endure no AC, salty water during heat wave, Grace Miller, Fatima Moien, 6/26/25 at 11:27 AM
https://local21news.com/news/local/lancaster-county-prison-inmates-endure-no-ac-salty-water during-heat-wave-incarceration-weather-air-conditioning-ac-pennsylvania-pa#
Community weighs in on lack of air conditioning in the Lancaster County Prison, Alex Thill, 6/26/25 6:52 PM
https://local21news.com/news/local/lancaster-community-weighing-in-on-the-lack-of-ac-in-the lancaster-county-prison-air-conditioning-warden-pa-pennsylvania-inmates-inmate-strike-hunger water-issues-reaction-news#
Learn more:
Holt, D. W. E. (2015). Heat in US Prisons and Jails: Corrections and the Challenge of Climate Change. SSRN Electronic Journal. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2667260
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