FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 15, 2025

Press Contacts:

Joshua Stickney, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, comms@ellabakercenter.org, 405-315-4151

Ashley Chambers, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, ashley@ellabakercenter.org, 925-953-2302

Ella Baker Center Responds to OIG Audit on Extreme Heat Inside California Prisons

“The most urgent solution is to release the most vulnerable people inside.”

SACRAMENTO — As California faces another record-breaking heat wave, the Office of the Inspector General (OIG) released on Thursday a new report confirming that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) is not taking necessary steps to protect our currently incarcerated Californians. The report findings uplift concerns that advocates, researchers, and incarcerated people have raised around the lack of preparedness and protection against extreme heat for people inside who are at the mercy of CDCR staff.

The OIG report reveals several damning findings, including: (1) Facilities are not able to maintain safe temperature requirements; (2) Neglect from CDCR staff in documenting temperatures; and (3) An ineffective heat plan, which leaves 87% of incarcerated people without protection from extreme temperatures.

“The findings in the OIG report are upsetting, but the fact is that we have been calling out the neglect from CDCR in protecting our incarcerated loved ones for years,” said Eric Henderson, Policy Director with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. “We surveyed hundreds of people incarcerated in California prisons, and the common response was feeling ‘hopeless’ and ‘no perceived sense of urgency’ when it came to CDCR’s emergency plan. Time and time again, CDCR staff have shown that they can’t and won’t protect incarcerated people from climate hazards.”

The human rights organization urges CDCR and lawmakers to enact the specific recommendations laid out in the Hidden Hazards report, by the Ella Baker Center and UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs, before the next climate crisis hits:

  • Release the most vulnerable people inside, including those over the age of 50, people who take certain medications, and others.
  • Create minimum standards for emergency plans and require CDCR to develop a bi-annual report defining the protocol and resources on hand to carry out these plans.
  • Reallocate funding to expand heating, air conditioning, ventilation, shade, and backup generators.
  • Recognize the vulnerability of incarcerated people in the California Emergency Plan.

“The OIG report recommends more money for air conditioning systems inside prisons, but that alone won’t solve the issue and is extremely costly. Adding billions more dollars to CDCR’s $13.6 billion budget is not an effective use of resources. The most urgent solution is to release the people most vulnerable inside,” said Henderson.

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