CCI monitors temperatures, addresses complaints
Family and friends of incarcerated people sometimes become concerned about living conditions at prisons and reach out to news media.
An April 11 email to Tehachapi News detailed concerns of one individual who did not want to be named but expressed worry about conditions at the California Correctional Institution at Tehachapi.
Specifically, the individual said that hot air was “being blown through heat vents into … significantly overheated cells” and that ventilation systems are inadequate. The individual also relayed reports of the water at the prison tasting “strange, indicating health-impacting impurities.” The writer included a link to the Environmental Working Group website, ewg.org. The EWG is an activist group that specializes in research and advocacy in various areas including drinking water pollutants.
Lt. Adrian Hart, public information officer for the prison, responded to an inquiry about the concerns expressed by the person writing to Tehachapi News.
He noted on April 20 that CCI utilizes a boiler system for heating instead of a traditional HVAC. “The heat is either on or off,” he said in an email. “After incarcerated persons recently complained of the heat in cells, an ombudsperson traveled to the facility to investigate the claims and determined the temperature was not excessively hot or dangerous.”
He said that CCI and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation “take the well-being and safety of our incarcerated population very seriously and continue to monitor and address complaints of this nature as they arise.”
Hart added that the prison’s Heat Plan, one of its operational procedures, “directs staff to monitor inside and outside temperatures from May 1 through October 31. The boiler system is turned off when weather permits,” he said.
Incarcerated individuals can purchase and possess fans for their personal area that can aid in their cooling, Hart noted.
WATER QUALITY
As to water quality, he said, “CCI is not aware of any issues at this time. Based on the attached link from the original complaint, the institution’s water tested better than surrounding areas within our community.”
Hart is correct. Based on 2021 information in the EWG’s database for the 93561 ZIP code, which includes the prison, CCI’s water had 12 total contaminants with six exceeding EWG health guidelines, compared to nearby Fairview Water Company, LLC, with 13 total contaminants with 10 exceeding EWG health guidelines. Bear Valley Community Services District had 24 total contaminants with 15 exceeding EWG health guidelines. Stallion Springs Community Services District had 21 total contaminants with 13 exceeding EWG health guidelines.
The EWG database also notes that CCI and the nearby drinking water providers noted here — Fairview Water Company and Bear Valley and Stallion Springs CSDs — are all in compliance with federal health-based drinking water standards.
The database is online at ewg.org/tapwater.
The state water resources control board also provides a searchable database with drinking water quality information online at bit. ly/3LlAjqg.
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH SURVEY
CCI and other CDCR facilities are regularly inspected by the California Department of Public Health.
According to a letter that accompanied the DPHS report on an inspection at CCI last May — the latest available report — the surveys were initiated to assist CDCR in ensuring the health and safety of inmate workers and staff in meeting correctional accreditation standards.
A copy of the report was provided by CDCR via a public records act request.
The report discussed findings of inspections in various areas of the prison including kitchens, canteens, clinics, laundry and housing units. Findings included improvements needed in labeling and storage of potentially injurious chemicals and repair needs — but there were few findings related to heating systems.
One finding noted that there was dust accumulation on a vent register in a scullery room.
In a review of a clinic area, an inspector assessed lighting, sound and air circulation and noted that “it is (a) very common practice of inmates occupying a single cell to fully or partially obstruct the incoming air vent to the cell with paper or plastic film as a means to control conditioned air into their cell.
This practice is widespread in a cell block which will result in a measurement that overstates the volume of air to be circulated to individual vents because air volume which cannot exit a blocked vent follow the path of (least) resistance and discharge to the vents that are open.”
In other words, actions by individual inmates sometimes compromise the ability of the ventilation system to operate as designed.
Unsanitary conditions were found at drinking faucets in at least three housing units, apparently due to leaks or mineral buildup. In an entrance area, the drinking water fountain was found to have very low water pressure. The institution was advised to correct these deficiencies.
CDCR OMBUDSMAN
The CDCR provides an Office of the Ombudsman to allow people concerned about conditions in state prisons and other issues to have their concerns heard and questions answered.
More information about services provided by the Ombudsman and contact information is available online at cdcr.ca.gov/ombuds.