‘Trapped in a fiery kennel’: Lawsuit against Missouri Department of Corrections alleges extreme heat at one prison is a constitutional violation

‘Trapped in a fiery kennel’: Lawsuit against Missouri Department of Corrections alleges extreme heat at one prison is a constitutional violation

Throughout the summer of 2024, six people in prison at Missouri’s Algoa Correctional Center experienced temperatures and humidity levels that violated their constitutional rights, a new lawsuit alleges.  Inmates described conditions at Algoa Correctional Center, a nearly 100-year-old building without air conditioning, as a “coffin with a heat lamp.” Even through the nights, when temperatures drop, inmates would “pray to survive to the next day.”…