Jails are cold for a combination of deliberate institutional choices and unavoidable building design. Temperatures in many facilities hover near the low end of the 60°F to 80°F range that correctional standards allow for living areas, and inmates frequently report conditions that feel even colder than the thermostat reads. The reasons involve everything from how the buildings are constructed to security policies that limit what you can wear or use to stay warm.
Concrete and Steel Trap Cold Air
Most jails are built from reinforced concrete and steel, materials chosen for durability and security rather than comfort. Concrete absorbs cold from the outside and radiates it inward, acting like a thermal sponge that keeps walls, floors, and benches perpetually cool to the touch. Steel bunks, metal toilets, and concrete sleeping platforms pull heat directly from your body through contact. Even when the air temperature in a cell technically meets standards, the surfaces around you can make it feel 10 or more degrees colder.
These materials also make heating deeply inefficient. Warming a concrete structure takes enormous energy, and heat escapes quickly through the same dense walls that trapped the cold. Many jails, especially older county facilities, have outdated HVAC systems that were never designed to heat such thermally demanding spaces evenly. The result is uneven temperatures: corridors near mechanical rooms may feel acceptable while cells on exterior walls stay frigid.
Thermostats Favor Staff, Not Inmates
Corrections officers walk, patrol, climb stairs, and wear layered uniforms with body armor. Their activity level generates significantly more body heat than an inmate sitting or lying on a bunk for hours. When the thermostat gets set, it often targets what feels comfortable for staff moving through the facility, not for someone sitting still in a thin jumpsuit on a concrete bench. The metabolic gap between an active guard and a sedentary inmate means the same temperature can feel reasonable to one person and uncomfortably cold to the other.
Facilities also tend to err on the cooler side deliberately. Research from the University of Wisconsin has documented that high temperatures in correctional settings increase aggression and violent incidents. Administrators know from experience that a cooler environment generally produces a calmer, more manageable population. While no facility policy openly states “we keep it cold to reduce fights,” the institutional preference for lower temperatures serves a security function that most jail staff acknowledge informally.
Security Rules Limit Warm Clothing and Bedding
In most jails, you’re issued a single thin jumpsuit, a lightweight blanket, and a mattress not much thicker than a gym mat. Requesting extra blankets or layered clothing is often denied, and not always out of indifference. Sheets, blankets, and extra clothing can be fashioned into ligatures, which makes them a suicide risk in a population with elevated rates of self-harm. They can also be used to obscure cell windows, block cameras, or conceal contraband.
These restrictions leave inmates with very few ways to regulate their own body temperature. You can’t add a hoodie, request a thicker blanket, or even keep your shoes on in some facilities during lockdown hours. The gap between what your body needs to stay warm while sedentary and what the facility provides is often significant, especially overnight when building temperatures drop further and activity levels are at their lowest.
Ventilation Requirements Push in Outside Air
Federal detention standards based on American Correctional Association guidelines require ventilation systems to supply at least 15 cubic feet per minute of circulated air per person, with a minimum of five cubic feet per minute of outside air. Cells with toilets must have at least four complete air changes. These requirements exist for good reason: jails are densely occupied, and without aggressive ventilation, airborne illness spreads fast and air quality deteriorates quickly.
But constantly cycling in outside air, particularly during fall, winter, and early spring, pulls building temperatures down. The HVAC system has to work against its own ventilation mandate, pumping in cold outside air while simultaneously trying to heat the space. In many facilities, the heating system simply can’t keep up, especially during nighttime hours when outside temperatures drop and staffing is too thin to monitor mechanical systems closely.
What the Standards Actually Require
The American Correctional Association standards call for living areas to be maintained between 60°F and 80°F. Non-living areas like hallways, kitchens, and work spaces are allowed an even wider range, up to 90°F on the high end. The standard language says temperature should be kept at “acceptable comfort levels,” but 60°F is far from comfortable for someone sitting still in light clothing. For context, the World Health Organization recommends a minimum of 64°F for healthy adults indoors and 68°F for vulnerable populations.
Many jails technically comply with ACA standards while still subjecting inmates to conditions that feel punishingly cold. A facility sitting at 62°F is within guidelines but well below what most people would tolerate at home. And these are the standards for accredited facilities. Many local and county jails are not ACA-accredited and face no enforceable temperature requirement at all beyond what courts may impose after litigation.
When Cold Becomes a Legal Issue
The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that depriving someone of warmth can violate the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment. The Court has specifically identified “food, warmth, or exercise” as basic human needs that prisons must provide, and exposing someone to “a substantial risk of serious harm” crosses the constitutional line. In practice, however, winning a cold-conditions lawsuit is difficult. Inmates must prove not only that conditions were objectively severe but that officials knew about the risk and deliberately ignored it.
Lawsuits over cold conditions have succeeded in extreme cases: facilities where heating systems broke down for days, where inmates were held in outdoor or uninsulated areas during winter, or where sick and elderly inmates were denied extra bedding. But chronic, low-grade cold, the kind where the building technically meets minimum standards but everyone inside is miserable, rarely produces successful legal claims. Courts have generally treated discomfort as distinct from constitutional harm.
Health Effects of Chronic Cold Exposure
Spending weeks or months in a cold environment takes a measurable toll. Prolonged exposure to indoor temperatures below 65°F increases blood pressure, suppresses immune function, and worsens respiratory conditions like asthma. For people with cardiovascular disease, chronic cold constricts blood vessels and forces the heart to work harder. Joint pain and muscle stiffness intensify, and sleep quality drops sharply when your body can’t maintain a comfortable core temperature overnight.
Jail populations are disproportionately affected because they already carry higher rates of chronic illness, mental health conditions, and substance withdrawal, all of which are worsened by cold stress. Someone going through alcohol or opioid withdrawal, for instance, already struggles with temperature regulation. Adding a cold environment to that process makes symptoms more severe and recovery harder. The National Commission on Correctional Health Care has called on facilities to maintain climate control that accounts for the specific vulnerabilities of incarcerated populations, but compliance remains inconsistent.