Lancaster’s daily newspaper, LNP/Lancaster Online published my Op-Ed on July 23, 2025, a shorter version of my June 30th blog post on this site. See below for the full text with the hyperlinks to sources, not included in the LNP version. 

When the air conditioning at the Pennsylvania SPCA Lancaster Center broke down during a  recent heat wave, staff responded to the emergency with compassion. They moved every  animal into temporary foster care or to another shelter. And they asked for help with repairs. Meanwhile, across town at Lancaster County Prison, a different scenario played out.Temperatures inside the aging jail were likely rising above 80, but it wasn’t because the air  conditioning was failing. It couldn’t fail, because in most of the jail’s housing units, there is no  air conditioning.

Across our community, we take measures to assure that the elderly, children, workers and pets are safe during a declared heat advisory. But that sense of urgency is lacking at  Lancaster County Prison, which currently houses more than 800 people. The mindset seems to be “It’s just summer.” 

I got a taste of the misery inside our jail during the June meeting of the Lancaster County  Prison Board. I sat in an uncooled space with other attendees, who fanned themselves, sipped  bottled water and checked their watches as the meeting went on. No one wanted to stay  longer than necessary.

I really don’t know how hot it was inside that confined room. Warden Cheryl Steberger’s  monthly reports list a lot of statistics, but not the jail’s temperature. 

Jail visitors have heard it can be hotter inside than outdoors. It’s hot enough that correctional officers earn paid time off for shifts worked in excessive heat, described as above 80 degrees  indoors. 

But there is no time off for people who are locked up. Of the more than 800 who are confined  in our jail, about 70 are older people, according to jail data from last month, and more than 300  have lung or heart conditions, diabetes, hepatitis or other diagnoses that can increase their  health risk in the heat. 

Some concessions 

I’m grateful that the jail makes some concessions during dangerous heat waves: For example,  distributing a cup of ice twice a day at meals. And in the common areas of each housing unit,  coolers of cold water are provided and large, industrial fans move the air. But people in jail spend much of their day inside their cells, where the large fans don’t reach  and the tap water is not cooled and, in fact, can taste salty during weekly water softener  treatments. 

Cooling showers also aren’t possible because the cold-water lines run warm due to ambient  temperatures. 

Climate experts warn that record-high temperatures could become the new norm. When  environmental conditions change, public health measures must evolve too. After a heat wave killed more than 1,000 people in the Midwest in 1995, heat emergency  response plans became a tenet of public health management. For example, in heat emergencies, our county opens cooling centers with extended hours for older people and  others with medical conditions. 

I left the prison board meeting feeling that the dangers of extreme heat were being dismissed,  when they could, in fact, be addressed scientifically. The board didn’t ask for objective  information on the temperature in the cells, the tap water temperature or the rates of heat related medical calls. Why? 

Public opinion generally frowns on jail improvements, as incarcerated people are often perceived as deserving punishment. Many citizens are unaware that 50% to 70% of our jail’s detainees may be innocent and are awaiting their day in court. 

The public may not know that Black and Latino Lancaster County residents are jailed at higher rates than their white neighbors. Or they may not realize that pretrial incarceration penalizes  the poor, who sit in jail while people with means post bail and go home. 

To their credit, the Lancaster County commissioners in 2020 approved building a new jail, after years of deferral. But construction has yet to begin, and the ribbon-cutting won’t happen for  years. That means our old jail must hang on for at least several more summers. 

Evidence-based plan 

In recent years, the commissioners have addressed other evolving needs of the jail, including  suicide prevention measures, increased staff salaries and expanded addiction treatment.

Perhaps the commissioners and the Lancaster County Emergency Management Agency could  work with public health experts and county judicial and correctional stakeholders to develop an  evidence-based plan to address the jail’s dangerous heat conditions. 

Here is what an evidence-based response could look like: 

— Keep temperature and humidity logs for each cell block, calculate the heat index that staff  and detainees experience, and publish the data. 

— Track medical service calls that correlate with heat emergencies and document which  detainees are most vulnerable. 

— Provide 24/7 access to ice and cold water, and rotate detainees for respite breaks in cooled  air. Access to ice machines, sports drinks and breaks in cooler air was negotiated for  correctional officers on high-heat days. We must provide the same interventions for all when  health is at risk. 

— Consider ways to install more air conditioning. 

— Reduce the jail population during health emergencies. Recall that during the early days of  the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, then-Lancaster County President Judge David Ashworth  signed release orders for 75 people, citing a moral and ethical responsibility to act. His efforts,  in collaboration with District Attorney Heather Adams, resulted in a 100-person drop in the jail  population later in 2020, without compromising community safety. The average count reached  a low of 644, numbers last seen in the early 1990s. 

So, yes, there are things we can do to help people imprisoned in the heat. But for now, people in jail can mostly only sit and sweat. They have tried to get our attention. Family members report that some have refused to eat, in protest of the conditions. And those  in one cell block briefly refused to return to their cells. 

Warden Steberger said it was typical jail behavior and not concerning. 

The warden is undoubtedly doing the best she can with the resources and direction she has  been given. 

But does the prison board have the political will and basic humanity to be more proactive,  provide additional resources and prepare a comprehensive heat emergency response that our  citizens under legal supervision deserve? 

Gail Groves Scott works from her home in Lancaster city as a public health policy  researcher and advocate. She is a doctoral candidate in health policy at Saint Joseph’s  University.