In the ancient cities and modern corridors of Italy, two slow-moving crises have collided into a single urgent emergency: prisons built for a certain number of human beings now hold far more, and the summer heat has made the resulting conditions not merely uncomfortable but genuinely dangerous. Inmates sleep on concrete floors as temperatures approach 90 degrees Fahrenheit, and the guards who witness this daily have added their voices to the chorus of alarm. It is a moment that asks an old question in a new register — what does a society owe to those it has chosen to confine?
Italy's Overcrowded Prisons Buckle Under Extreme Heat Wave
Inmates are forced to sleep on concrete floors in dangerous heat conditions, creating inhumane and potentially life-threatening circumstances.