By Ashley Miznazi | November 13, 2025
Miami Herald
A new report filed in a class-action lawsuit shows that conditions inside a South Florida men’s prison were far more extreme than the sweltering summer temperatures outside — with the heat index peaking at a scorching 119 degrees. The Florida Justice Institute, a Miami-based nonprofit that advocates for incarcerated, homeless, and disabled people, filed the lawsuit last year aiming to protect prisoners at the Dade Correctional Institution from what it calls “deadly” temperatures.
The suit seeks to keep the prison’s indoor heat index — a feels-like measure combining temperature and humidity — below 88 degrees, which is a threshold experts say is critical to prevent heat-related illness and death. A new filing argues the facility is no where close, citing a study that recorded an average heat index of 98 degrees between May and October, topping out at 119 degrees. “We believe the report confirms that the summer heat indexes inside Dade CI are extraordinarily high,” lawyers from the Florida Justice Institute said in a written statement. “We’re hopeful that this information can be used to protect the lives and health of people incarcerated there.”
The report produced by Stefano Schiavon, a University of California-Berkeley professor who specializes in architectural engineering, thermal comfort and heat, relied on 31 sensors placed throughout the prison. Each sensor collected a temperature reading every five minutes.
Long days without relief
Schiavon found prolonged, dangerous levels of heat lasting for days at a time. In one dayroom, the heat index exceeded 88 degrees for 121 consecutive days, 93 degrees for 35 straight days, 98 degrees for nine days, and reached 108 degrees for 34 hours without relief. He noted that the hottest readings often happened late at night, even as outdoor temperatures cooled off. “During daylight hours, it is like a battery that gets charged up by the sun,” Schiavon wrote in his 92-page report. “Even after temperatures cool off outside, the inside of the prison remains extremely hot as the building slowly discharges its heat.”
The Florida Department of Corrections declined to comment on the pending litigation but said some housing units are air-conditioned for “the most vulnerable inmate populations,” including those who are mentally ill, pregnant or elderly.
“FDC staff is informed on best practices to avoid heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Advisories and informational materials are distributed to ensure that staff can recognize the symptoms of heat stroke and heat exhaustion and provide treatment,” the Florida Department of Corrections’ office of communications wrote in an email. FDC noted that many existing FDC facilities were built before air conditioning and were instead designed to maximize natural ventilation and various measures are used to reduce heat, “including industrial fans, exhaust systems that promote high air exchange, and ceiling or wall-mounted circulation fans.” However, Schiavon described the ceiling fans as small, approximately 48-60 inches in diameter, and wrote “they do not produce enough air” to adequately cool the area off. The lawsuit states that since Florida is hotter than it’s ever been, and because “temperatures are soaring and breaking records at an alarming rate” the population at Dade Correctional Institute is at increasing risk of heat-related illness.
Lawsuit claims heat led to 4 deaths
It also describes several deaths over the years that attorneys believe were heat-related. A 74-year-old with hypertension – identified only as C.G. in the lawsuit – slept in a room crowded with 80 other men in bunk beds. In July 2023, he woke up one morning and was described by prisoners to lawyers as, “profusely sweating and confused.” As the sun rose, C.G. got worse. Some of his last words that morning, Florida Justice Institute lawyers said, were “Man, it’s so hot in here.” He died around 8 a.m. that day. At 74, C.G was one of the older incarcerated men in Dade Correctional. More than half of the prisoners are over 50 and 24 percent are over 65.
The plaintiffs in the case, Dwayne Wilson, 66; Tyrone Harris, 54; and Gary Wheeler, 65; are also all on medications for conditions such as hypertension, depression and epilepsy which experts say make them more sensitive to the heat. The FDC does not keep track of heat deaths. Instead, deaths are recorded as homicide, suicide, accident or natural death.
There have been successful suits for cooler conditions in other states. In 2018, a judge ordered that a Texas prison’s sweltering conditions amounted to cruel and unusual punishment. The Texas Tribune reported the state prison system settled after a $7M legal fight to have one housing area in the Wallace Pack prison southeast of College Station no hotter than 88 degrees heat index. The lawsuit is scheduled for trial in July 2026.