Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center inmate housing still without air conditioning 

FULTON, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Fulton Reception and Diagnostic Center's inmate housing is still without air conditioning despite the Missouri General Assembly approving the funding for the installation more than a year ago.

The funding was approved during the 2023 legislative session and is part of the state budget for fiscal 2024.

Karen Pojmann, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections, says the installation is expected to be completed in January 2026. Pojmann said a project like this can be a long and complicated process.

"Air conditioning installation for a large, multi-building facility that was not constructed to be equipped with air conditioning is a long and complicated process. We are still in the design phase," Pojmann said in an email to ABC 17 News.

FRDC is partly air-conditioned as, administrative, transitional care and infirmaries where people receive medical care, segregated housing units and other buildings have air conditioning.

Pojmann says to accommodate inmates in the meantime, FRDC has placed giant fans in all buildings, they give inmates ice three times a day, water throughout the day, and restrict physical activity when it is too hot.

Allison Smith reached out to ABC 17 and said her friend, Jamie Ellis is at FRDC. He told her inmates only get ice during their recreational time and sometimes there's not enough.

"There have been several days where there wasn’t ice, there wasn't any. the ice machine was out and available during that time that there was no ice," Smith said.

Lori Curry, founder of Missouri Prison Reform says high heat and a lack of water and ice can be dangerous.

"You've got a lot of older people, a lot of people with health problems that are incarcerated in these facilities, and they just can't tolerate the heat as well," Curry said.

Heat waves can cause major health problems for people in buildings without air conditioning, including prison inmates, according to a report from the Marshall Project. In Texas, 23 inmates died from heat-related illnesses from 2018 to 2022, the report says.

Curry said that prison rules also make it extremely difficult for inmates to find alternative ways to cool off. 

"Sometimes people are required to wear certain clothing to go to rec or to go to a class.and so if they don't wear that clothing, they can get a violation," Curry said.

Smith says Ellis had repercussions after attempting to block the sun from his windows, to help cool down his cell.

"He told me that his rec was taken away that day because he or that person in the cell with him, one of them put something in front of the window to block the sun from shining on them," Smith said.

Missouri Prison Reform says there have been more than 80 deaths in Missouri prisons so far this year, but none to their knowledge have been heat related.