GOODYEAR, Ariz. — As Arizona is seeing day after day of triple-digit temps – families are getting more concerned about their loved ones at Perryville women’s prison in Goodyear.
Since the I-Team’s Erica Stapleton first exposed the extreme heat inside Perryville last summer, there have been some big changes. But families are still coming to 12News to push for change.
"I think it's cruel," said Meg Stedman, whose daughter is incarcerated at Perryville. "Let these women have some relief from this ungodly heat up there."
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Last year, the I-Team uncovered that in July 2023, some prison cells at Perryville were regularly in the triple digits, some as high as 109 degrees according to department records.
The extreme heat not only took a toll on women incarcerated at the prison, but guards and other prison staff.
The I-Team reviewed records that showed some women and prison staff were some hospitalized or needed medical attention with heat-related symptoms last summer.
The cells impacted the most were in units that were cooled by swamp coolers, not air conditioners.
The Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry, or ADCRR, says its actively tackling heat mitigation at state prisons.
"There will be cells this year that have AC that didn't last year," said ADCRR Director Ryan Thornell, in an interview with the I-Team in March 2024.
As of last month, the department said it finished putting in air conditioners on the Lumley Unit at Perryville, but are only 25% finished converting the Santa Cruz Unit.
"Thinking about something like a swamp cooler in Arizona…they don’t work when it gets really hot," said Laura Seward.
Seward's niece is assigned to live in the Santa Cruz Unit, which still doesn't have AC.
"I don’t see anywhere in my niece’s sentence that she should be subjected to cruel and unusual punishment of temperatures and conditions that are unlivable," Seward said.
Seward's family shared messages with us, showing that her niece reported that her cell was getting as hot as 106 degrees in June. ADCRR did not confirm this.
A department spokesperson told the I-Team Tuesday that they had no reports within the past three weeks of cells getting hotter than 100 degrees and no reports of heat-related hospitalizations. The hottest temperature recording in a housing unit at Perryville in June was 96 degrees, while the lowest was 74 degrees, according to the email.
In mid-June, the corrections department enacted its heat relief plan statewide. This allows for misters, a relaxed dress code, cooling tents and free ice twice a day. The I-Team learned that some women were also being provided with Styrofoam coolers to help keep their ice from melting. The department spokesperson said all these measures were being implemented on the Santa Cruz Unit at Perryville.
Beyond that, the department said ice is available for purchase.
12News political anchor and reporter Brahm Resnik asked Governor Katie Hobbs about the ongoing concerns last week on Sunday Square Off.
"How confident are you that your prisons director has that under control, and the inmates will receive the proper cooling that they should have?" Resnik asked?
"I am very confident," replied Governor Hobbs. "Director Thornell takes this issue very seriously. There is a heat mitigation plan ensuring that incarcerated individuals have access to water and ice and cooling and the director and deputy themselves are doing regular inspections of this."
An ADCRR spokesperson sent the following response, in part, over email:
ADCRR is committed to ensuring a safe and healthy environment for incarcerated individuals, our staff, and all who interface with ADCRR complexes and our Extreme Heat Safety and Relief Strategy remains a top priority for the Department.
Despite mitigation measures, families are still worried.
"My niece isn’t some monster," Seward said. "She’s a person who made bad decisions in her youth and she’s paying for them now. And we want to make sure she’s doing that safely."
ADCRR did not provide a date for when all the units at Perryville will be converted from swamp coolers to air conditioners.
The project is an undertaking. Many buildings are old and need to be retrofitted, which can take time and planning.
Perryville isn’t the only prison getting a remodel. There are also men’s prisons across the state that have HVAC projects underway or in the budget. This work is dependent on budget approval and is expected to continue into FY 2026.
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