Extreme heatwave across US prompts concerns about elderly, homeless & inmates

As an extreme heatwave presses down on the US, locals are being asked to look after their older neighbors, activists try to save inmates from baking in prisons, and authorities hurry to take the homeless off the sizzling streets.

The extreme temperatures, reaching as high as some 95F (35 C) have been plaguing large parts of the US from the Midwest to the East Coast over the past few days. At least six deaths have already been blamed on the extreme heatwave – four in Maryland and one each in Arizona and Arkansas.

At some places, the thermometers have even hit triple digits, prompting the authorities and meteorological services to release numerous advisories on how to stay cool, open dedicated cooling centers and hold water parties of all sorts.

The town of Braintree, Massachusetts, for example, is urging the populace to “stay cool and hydrated” and to check on elderly neighbors – while the town’s police department is telling aspiring criminals about the dangers of committing crimes in such heat.

“Folks. Due to the extreme heat, we are asking anyone thinking of doing criminal activity to hold off until Monday,” it said in a tongue-in-cheek Facebook post.

It’s sound advice, too, considering that accomplished criminals possibly have it even worse in the country’s prisons. In New York, advocacy groups sounded alarms over the lack of air conditioning and summer clothes at the Rikers Island jail, and said the guards there have punished the inmates’ attempts to stay cool.

Rikers inmantes have died due to overheating before. Back in 2014, a prisoner “basically baked to death” in his sell there thanks to malfunctioning heating equipment.

The authorities have apparently heard the activists, with New York mayor Bill de Blasio saying that proper clothing has been issued, and units without air conditioning provided with “fans, ice, water, and access to multiple cool showers.” But Rikers is just one example, and numerous prisons across the states remain without functional air conditioning.

Another vulnerable group – the homeless – have been plagued by the heat as well – they likely had it worst, in fact, being deprived from air conditioning, shelter and readily available water. Relief groups and authorities have been trying to check up on the homeless and provide them with some means to fend off the heat. In Indianapolis, for example, the Metropolitan Police Department had to step in and cops have spent hours distributing cold water to the homeless and directing them to shelters, where they could cool down.

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