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28 Berkeley J. Crim. L. 1 (2023)

handle is hein.journals/bjcl28 and id is 1 raw text is: Climate Change and the Carceral System: How Extreme Weather Threatens Inmates' Eighth Amendment Rights Vaughn Ford-Plotkin* ABSTRACT This article will analyze the impact of climate change on the carceral system of the United States. More specifically, how extreme weather events and conditions exacerbated by climate change are causing incarcerated individuals to endure abhorrent conditions that are in violation of their Eighth Amendment rights. Additionally, this article will examine the Prison Litigation Reform Act and how it prevents incarcerated individuals from having legal recourse to rectify the violations of their Eighth Amendment rights caused by climate change. Via a two-factor approach of federal laws requiring safe conditions (with a focus on what is safe during extreme heat waves and cold fronts) and the abolition of the Prison Litigation Reform Act; this article will lay the framework for a course of action to prevent incarcerated individuals from having their constitutional rights violated in the future and provide a legal avenue to those incarcerated individuals and their families who have already suffered cruel and unusual punishment at the hands of an under prepared carceral system. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15779/Z38T43J41P Copyright c 2023 Regents of the University of California * Vaughn Ford-Plotkin is a third-year law student at Vermont Law School, pursuing a career in indigent defense post-grad. I would like to thank Dean Jennifer Rushlow for all of her guidance as the professor overseeing the drafting of this note. I would like to thank BJCL for the opportunity to have this note published. I would like to also thank my family and friends who have supported me, allowing me to have a successful law school career. Finally, I would like to recognize the strength and value of all people in prison and to emphasize the need for mass decarceration.