As temperatures rise, thousands of incarcerated people face dangerous—even deadly—heat in prisons that still lack air-conditioning.

A group of organizations has sued the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), arguing that confining people in sweltering conditions violates the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. This trial began in federal court in early April and has given some hope to incarcerated people and their advocates, who are asking the judge to fo ...

Fourteen people have died in county jails so far this year.

How are people dying?It typically takes months for Los Angeles County to publicly issue causes of death for people who have died in LA County jails. And even once autopsy reports are finalized, they don’t tell the whole story. When the coroner rules that a death is the result of “natural causes,” jail conditions can still be to blame. Researchers h ...