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Federal court orders Edmonton women's prison to address history of
heat complaints

   Anja Karadeglija
   | The Canadian Press | Posted: July 20, 2026 10:15 PM | Last
   Updated: 16 hours ago

   Cell in secure unit recorded a temperature of over 40 C in
   2018: affidavit

   Image | Edmonton Institution for Women

   Caption: A federal court directed Correctional Service Canada
   on July 16 to record temperature readings in a unit known to
   see extreme heat at the Edmonton Institution for Women,
   pictured in an undated photo. (CBC)
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   The federal court has directed an Alberta prison to take steps
   to install air conditioning in response to complaints about
   extreme heat that go back about 20 years.
   Correctional Service Canada has failed to put an effective
   solution in place at the Edmonton Institution for Women's
   secure unit, the court said.
   "The excessively high temperatures have caused inmates to
   suffer panic attacks, psychological distress, and sleep
   deprivation. It is a long-standing problem: CSC has known of
   design problems with the temperature regulation equipment in
   Secure since as early as 2012," Justice Meaghan Conroy wrote in
   the July 16 decision.
   Conroy added that written complaints and grievances from
   inmates about extreme temperatures in the secure unit go back
   "about two decades."
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   One affidavit from an inmate housed in 2018 in a corner cell
   nicknamed "the oven," said a maintenance worker recorded a
   temperature of over 40 C in her cell.
   Conroy wrote that while Correctional Service Canada "says it
   routinely monitors temperatures in Secure, remarkably, it keeps
   no written records of its temperature readings."
   The court directed Correctional Service Canada to record
   temperature readings in the unit and to ask for authorization
   to install air conditioning.
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   The Canadian Human Rights Commission has referred a separate
   complaint by the John Howard Society of Canada about heat in
   prisons to the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.
   In his July 8 referral decision, commissioner Sasha Kiran
   Cragg-Gore of the Canadian Human Rights Commission wrote that
   Correctional Service Canada hadn't demonstrated it accommodates
   inmates "to the point of undue hardship in their practices and
   policies to mitigate the impacts of extreme heat."
   The decision noted there are already other complaints from
   individual inmates in front of the tribunal.
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   It also said the John Howard Society complaint goes beyond
   individual cases "and implicates the treatment and dignity of
   an entire demographic group in federal custody: the unique
   vulnerability of older and disabled incarcerated prisoners, who
   cannot self protect from environmental harms."
   As temperatures rise due to climate change, the case could set
   a precedent regarding how federal institutions "adapt
   operational standards to safeguard the health and dignity of
   those in custody," Cragg-Gore wrote.
   "It would also provide valuable guidance for broader climate
   adaptation efforts in health care, elder care, and
   institutional facilities — sectors facing parallel risks."

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