Prisons, climate and a just transition

The report explores how climate change and the prison system intersect, highlighting that prisons are highly vulnerable to climate impacts such as extreme heat, disasters, and inadequate infrastructure, which disproportionately affect already marginalised populations. 

It argues that the harms of incarceration — social, economic, and environmental — are compounded in a climate crisis, and that current prison systems are ill-equipped to respond safely or sustainably.

Framed through the concept of a “just transition,” the report calls for systemic reform that goes beyond improving prison conditions to fundamentally reducing incarceration (decarceration), investing in community-based alternatives, and addressing the structural inequalities that drive both imprisonment and climate vulnerability.