LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — As temps in Southern Nevada soared to record highs this week, inmates at High Desert State Prison, which is about 40 minutes outside of Las Vegas, have been without a cooling system.
In an email to Channel 13, Teri Vance, public information officer with the Department of Corrections, says swamp coolers and industrial fans were slated to arrive at the prison at some point this week.
Vance says some older swamp cooler systems stopped working at some point, leaving inmates there to swelter in the heat.
"If temperatures approach 85 degrees or become too uncomfortable, offenders will be transferred to open cells throughout the state," Vance said in an email sent Monday.
Vance did not return messages after Channel 13 asked follow-up questions.
Tina Turentine, a North Las Vegas resident whose significant other is incarcerated at High Desert, says the conditions inside the prison have been almost unbearable.
"They've had several people passing out," Turentine says. "There was a guy in my fiance's unit that was getting nauseous due to the heat and having dizzy spells."
Jovan Jackson is a former inmate at High Desert and has successfully reintegrated into the community. He's involved with inmate advocacy and is running for the Nevada Assembly this fall.
He says mistreatment of inmates in Nevada is a "systematic" problem.
"It's just a matter of caring about folks and giving them some type of dignity, some type of respect," Jackson says. "I feel like the Nevada Department of Corrections has adopted a culture where treating people less than human is appropriate."
Jackson said that he talked to an inmate inside High Desert who said the temperature was 96 inside the facility on Tuesday. According to weather reports, the temperature in Las Vegas reached 119 degrees on Tuesday, only one degree off from the city's record temp of 120, reached earlier this month.
"That type of heat, you know, could be hazardous to anyone's health," Jackson said.
ACLU of Nevada says they're also looking into prison conditions.
WATCH: Full interview with ACLU Executive Director Athar Haseebullah
