Tour shows prison shortcomings within sweltering pods

A Nevada lawmaker is worried about the conditions that inmates at High Desert State Prison have been dealing with this summer.

Assemblywoman Cecelia Gonzalez, a District 16 Democrat, toured several housing units at the prison on Friday, along with a group of prison reform activists and journalists.

"We had temperature thermometers with us and some of them were reading up to 93 degrees in the cells," Gonzalez says. "My face was red from being in there just a couple of minutes."

About 3,400 inmates are housed at the prison, which is about 40 miles northwest of the Strip. It doesn't have air conditioning inside its housing units and instead, relies on large swamp coolers to regulate the temperature inside pods.

However, that equipment is aging and prison officials say they've found some failing systems are difficult to replace.

To air condition the entire compound, around 1.5 million square feet of space, it would cost around $180 million, officials say.

"We're talking about a prison that wasn't built with central air conditioning," Gonzalez says. "Why didn't we think about that 20 years ago?"

During Friday's tour, High Desert Warden Jeremy Bean admitted that there doesn't seem to be an easy fix for the issues facing the facility. Jim Dzurenda, Director of the Nevada Department of Corrections, was also on the tour and said the prison needs more funding.

Asking for more money for existing prisons is never an easy ask. Taxpayers and politicians are more inclined to put dollars into projects for roads, schools and economic development.

Representatives from the ACLU of Nevada were also present during the tour. Athar Haseebullah, executive director for the organization, says heat concerns have long been problematic at Nevada prisons.

"This is an ongoing issue and it doesn't seem to be going away," Haseebullah says.

During the tour, one inmate told journalists that he passed out in his sleep recently because of a heat-related illness. He said he woke up with vomit on his chest.

Prison officials say one inmate was treated for a heat-related illness on July 7. Multiple inmates during the tour mentioned that they believe more have become ill due to the heat, though the cases aren't being reported.

Last week, the temperature in Las Vegas reached 120 degrees, shooting past the former record of 117.

With little protection from the heat, inmates clearly have suffered, says Susan Nicholas, a local activist who has lobbied for prison reform.

"If people are having heat stroke, that's fire in the brain and possibly irreversible brain damage," Nicholas says. "They don't care. The people at that prison don't care. They got a sentence. That's the punishment. It shouldn't be medical neglect, lockdowns and all these things. These are human beings. Stop treating people like animals."

Close to 150 inmates at High Desert have been transferred out because of heat issues inside pods, but many more remain. Gonzalez admits there's likely not an easy fix at this point, but she says she's ready to get to work to find one.

"We are having these conversations about what the best solution is," she says.

What that might look like, we'll have to wait to see.