The high temperature in and around Chatham, Virginia is expected to be ninety degrees for the next three days – a dire forecast for about 980 men at the Green Rock Correctional Center. Tim Wright is among them.
“We’ve had like two weeks of air conditioning since April,” he says. That’s because the man who had nursed the aging air conditioning system along was transferred to another facility.
“We lost the inmate who was on maintenance who knew how and had been keeping the air conditioning running at the compound for the last ten years.”
Wright claims correctional officers are also feeling the heat.
“Even their control booth gets so hot they fight over who has to work in there, because it’s miserable.”
The Department of Corrections reports a compressor is on order but could not say when it might be delivered. The facility is now 18 years old. The state has brought in large fans, but Wright reports they just circulate hot, humid air, and in his pod showering doesn’t really help.
“We’ve got one shower that doesn’t work at all. We have four showers that don’t have any cold water.”
Complaints of extreme heat at facilities designed for good security but maybe not good ventilation have also come from Greensville, Nottoway and the Fluvanna Correctional Center for Women. Lawmakers in Richmond had approved a bill to require temperatures in state prisons be maintained between 65 and 80 degrees, but that measure was vetoed by the governor.
