Airconditioning in prison and schools is not a luxury

In a country where summer stretches on for longer than three months and where temperatures can reach unforgivingly high levels, having airconditioned spaces is not a luxury.

It is even more crucial in those spaces where occupants’ freedom of movement is restricted in some way, such as prisons, schools and workplaces. Keeping cool is necessary from a health perspective—it avoids heat stroke and complications in people with secondary conditions. But keeping cool is also necessary from a psychological point of view, especially when individuals can do very little because of restrictions imposed on them.

Within this context it makes no sense at all to have prison cells and communal areas at the Corradino Correctional Facility that are not airconditioned. Excessive heat at the Paola prison is a reality that impacts inmates and prison warders.

It’s not as if an inmate can simply walk out into the yard at will to experience a breeze; or sleep on the roof to escape the stifling heat. It’s not as if a prison warder can abandon their post to go and wash their face in the hope of cooling down.

Indeed, we do question why is there even the need to discuss such a matter. It’s obvious that in Malta’s climate, having an airconditioned prison is a no-brainer. It is indeed a human rights issue because we are not talking about comfort here but situations that can become intolerable, cause sleep deprivation and irritability, and lead to health complications.

Prison is not a hotel but neither should it be a hellhole, where inadequate climatic conditions can make an already unpleasant situation worse.

But this is also a labour issue for warders. These workers not only have to suffer the consequences of excessive heat while discharging their duty but have to deal with inmates who may be on edge as a result of the prison’s climatic conditions.

Having a climate-controlled facility where temperature, ventilation and humidity can be kept at tolerable levels throughout the whole year, is a necessity and will increasingly become so in the future.

Academic Andrew Azzopardi, a prisoner rights campaigner, has asked for an Ombudsman’s investigation of the climate situation at the CCF and how this is having an impact on inmates. This leader supports such an independent investigation and expects that its recommendations be implemented without delay.

Similarly, it makes no sense to have schools without airconditioned classrooms. How are students expected to concentrate and partake in the lesson or do their exams in a classroom that feels like a furnace?

Once again, this is not about mollycoddling students but a realisation that Malta has a hot climate that is getting even more intense over the years. Airconditioned classrooms ensure that students and their educators can function to their utmost ability in comfortable conditions.

Unfortunately, today, we have an absurd discriminatory situation with some students in state schools having airconditioned classrooms because they attend newly built schools, while others have to contend with old schools where hot classrooms are the norm.

Installing climate control systems in schools is one aspect of climate change impact mitigation that should not be overlooked.

As for those who will argue that a little heat never did any harm and that students in the past still excelled despite not having airconditioned classrooms, the situation today is incomparable with 30 or 20 years ago. Malta is objectively becoming hotter. Extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. Indeed, a report published by the Energy and Water Agency last year deduced that in 2024, the lack of rain was such that Malta experienced conditions typical of desert regions. These are facts, which cannot be ignored.

Within this changing scenario it makes a lot of sense to climate-proof public buildings and make them comfortable living spaces for those who use them and work there.

This is even more important for buildings such as prisons or schools, where users—inmates and students respectively—are vulnerable simply because they have no choice but to be there.