State data confirms 90-degree heat inside Donovan prison during lockdowns
Internal logs show indoor temperatures spiked while officials restricted access to cooling resources, a finding that contradicts the department's claim that security measures did not interfere with heat protocols.
By Rosa Wojcik ·
Temperature logs from the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation confirm that indoor conditions at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility exceeded 90 degrees Fahrenheit during a September lockdown. The records, obtained via public request, validate the testimony of incarcerated men who stated that staff limited their access to ice water and cooler areas while their cells became dangerously hot.
The department recorded temperatures above 90 degrees in four specific facilities within Donovan between September 8 and September 10. Outside the prison walls, the agency tallied 11 days where temperatures surpassed 90 degrees between August 23 and September 11. The data aligns with the timeline of the lockdowns, which CDCR spokesperson Mary Xjimenez said were imposed on certain yards between September 10 and September 17 due to security concerns.
Three incarcerated men described the conditions during that period as miserable. Lonnie Kocontes told reporters during a September phone call that the atmosphere was stifling and frustrating. He and two other men argued that prison staff failed to follow all of the department's heat safety steps. They questioned the effectiveness of the existing plan, particularly regarding how cooling measures were implemented during the security lockdown.
CDCR maintains that the lockdowns did not disrupt the institution's heat-plan protocols. In an email last month, Xjimenez stated that an attack on a correctional officer on September 9 triggered the security response. However, the newly released data suggests that the heat safety measures were active at the same time the lockdowns were in effect, creating a conflict between security restrictions and cooling needs.
Many state prisoners lack air conditioning in their cells. When temperatures rise, they depend on officials to provide fans and ice water. Lily Harvey, a senior attorney with the Prison Law Office in Berkeley, noted that the department's heat safety plan lacks specific guidelines on when to deploy these measures. She described the language in the plan as general and pointed out major flaws in what the protocol accounts for.
The release of these logs comes after advocates and civil rights lawyers argued that the department is failing to protect incarcerated people from increasingly intense heat waves. The department previously explained that its Electronic Temperature Tracker was only implemented this year. It is unclear how officials recorded the data, as the dataset labels the affected areas only as Facility A, B, C, and D without further detail. The department originally requested logs for the last 10 years but provided data only from the current tracking system.
Assemblymember Nick Schultz, chair of the state Assembly’s Public Safety Committee, said he will press for oversight hearings when lawmakers return in January. Schultz stated that serving time for a serious crime does not justify cruel and unusual conditions. He pledged to seek information and answers from CDCR regarding the implementation of heat safety protocols during facility lockdowns.
The data confirms that the heat was severe inside the prison during the period when officials restricted movement. The logs serve as a factual record of the conditions reported by incarcerated individuals and the department's own tracking systems during the September heat spike.
