Prisoners plead for air conditioning in lawsuit against Florida corrections department

Associated Press/Report for America

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — A lawsuit filed this week by the prison reform advocacy group Florida Justice Institute says that extreme heat in unairconditioned cells at a prison near the Florida Everglades has contributed to the deaths of four people and that state officials have failed to take “meaningful action” to mitigate the risk posed to the elderly and disabled inmates in their care. The lawsuit, which names the Florida Department of Corrections, the secretary of the department and the warden of the prison as defendants, argues that the conditions at Dade Correctional Institution constitute cruel and unusual punishment.