A Minnesota prison has “resolved without incident” a situation involving about 100 inmates in one housing unit who would not return to their cells Sunday in what one former inmate there called an act of “self-preservation” amid dangerously high temperatures in the region.
The situation was “calm, peaceful and stable throughout the day,” a Department of Corrections spokesperson said in a statement, adding that “incarcerated individuals in the unit indicated dissatisfaction” because the understaffed facility had to limit inmates’ time out of their cells.
But advocates positioned outside of the Stillwater prison, some of whom have family members inside, said inmates are fed up with the excessive heat, lack of air conditioning and limited access to showers and ice during on and off lockdowns over the past two months.
Let’s do better. The lack of freedom is the punishment. We do not need to make things worse.
Let’s do better.
Let’s do even better. Don’t punish. Rehabilitate. Unless criminally insane. Then give those guys ac too. And lots of meds.
Also lack of AC doesn’t make people regret they did anything wrong. Being separated from society does that. Alcatraz has good weather and you Don’t even need air conditioning there. Still, the prisoners there thought it was torture because you could hear people having fun on the pier in San Francisco a few miles away.