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.
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.
It wasn't clear how many such deaths have happened in Missouri prisons.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
