Inmates in French prisons face challenges amid ongoing heatwave and overcrowding conditions
Southwestern France is currently experiencing a severe heatwave, and the country's detention centres, including the Seysses detention centre, are feeling the brunt of it.
The heatwave has been affecting not just the Seysses detention centre, but detention centres across France. The facilities in these centres are not well-suited to cope with ever more frequent heatwaves, making the situation even more challenging.
The Seysses detention centre, located near Toulouse, is particularly overcrowded. On average, it holds more than twice its capacity in June, a situation that is exacerbating the effects of the heatwave. To help cool down, fans are being used in every corner of the prison, and sheets are hung from windows.
One guard expressed concern about the current situation at the Seysses detention centre, sharing similar sentiments with other guards across France who are worried about the impact of the heatwave on both themselves and the inmates.
The heatwave has been described as "unbearable" by one detainee at the Seysses detention centre. Inmates at an overcrowded prison near Toulouse are struggling to cope with the extreme temperatures.
Journalists observed the struggle of inmates at the overcrowded prison near Toulouse on Thursday. Measures specifically aimed at coping with heatwaves in overcrowded French prisons are limited, as the facilities are generally ill-equipped to handle extreme heat.
The broader systemic issues—overcrowding, understaffing, and outdated facilities—constrain the ability to implement dedicated measures against heat stress in prisons. The current responses do not appear to include specific cooling infrastructure improvements or emergency heat management protocols tailored to these extreme conditions.
As the heatwave is expected to persist through the weekend, concerns remain high among both guards and inmates about the unbearable temperatures during heatwaves, especially due to severe overcrowding and facilities not designed for such conditions.
The impact of the heatwave isn't confined to the Seysses detention centre alone; it's affecting health-and-wellness across multiple detention centres in France. With the rise in frequency of such weather events, the science of climate change suggests we should expect more heatwaves, making it crucial for environmental-science to develop strategies for cooling down overcrowded prisons like Seysses during fitness-and-exercise and weather extremes.
