In September, officials at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility locked down parts of the prison during a brutal heat wave. Several incarcerated people said staff restricted their access to ice water and cooler areas as a result, even as their cells became dangerously hot.
Now, state prison officials have released data confirming that temperatures spiked indoors at the prison amid the lockdowns.
KPBS obtained the data through a public records request to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR). The department oversees the state prison system and is legally required to keep logs of temperatures at each facility — although state inspectors have found CDCR isn’t consistently doing so.
According to the data, CDCR recorded temperatures rising above 90 degrees inside four facilities at Donovan between Sept. 8 to Sept. 10. Outside the prison, the agency tallied 11 days where temperatures broke 90 degrees between Aug. 23 and Sept. 11.
Three incarcerated men told KPBS the days and nights were miserable inside their cells.
“It’s stifling and it’s frustrating,” said Lonnie Kocontes during a September phone call.
The records confirm incarcerated peoples’ accounts that it was dangerously hot inside Donovan when prison officials made the decision to lock down the facility.
CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez previously told KPBS that the lockdowns were in response to “security concerns.” Xjimenez said Donovan officials imposed the lockdowns “on some yards” between Sept. 10 and Sept. 17.
In a separate statement, CDCR said an incarcerated person attacked and injured a correctional officer at Donovan on Sept. 9.
“This did not affect the institution following its heat-plan protocols,” Xjimenez wrote over email last month.
Kocontes and two other incarcerated men have contested that account, arguing prison staff did not follow all of CDCR’s heat safety steps. They also questioned whether other aspects of the plan are effective.
The release of the new data comes as advocates and civil rights lawyers argue CDCR isn’t doing enough to protect incarcerated people as climate change brings more frequent and more intense heat waves to California.
Many incarcerated people in state prisons do not have access to air conditioning. When temperatures rise inside, they rely on prison officials to provide cooling measures, such as ice water and fans.
Lily Harvey, a senior attorney with the Prison Law Office in Berkeley, said CDCR’s heat safety plan doesn’t clarify certain details, such as when to use specific those cooling measures.
“The language is pretty general,” Harvey said. “There's some major flaws in what it does and doesn't account for.”
KPBS originally requested temperature logs for the last 10 years. In its response, CDCR said its “Electronic Temperature Tracker” was implemented this year.
It’s unclear exactly how prison officials recorded the temperature data. The dataset included temperature logs for four facilities labeled Facility A, B, C and D, but did not include additional information about those areas.
KPBS’ reporting last month drew concern from the state Assembly’s Public Safety Committee.
Assemblymember Nick Schultz, a Democrat from Burbank and the committee’s chair, said he would press for oversight hearings when lawmakers convene in January.
“Just because someone has committed a serious crime and might be doing time at Donovan does not mean that they should be subject to cruel and unusual conditions,” Schultz told KPBS last month. “I will push for information and answers from CDCR when we return in January.”
