{
  "id": 266931,
  "title": "Heat waves expose overcrowding crisis in Europe’s aging prisons",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/07/heat-waves-expose-overcrowding-crisis-in-europes-aging-prisons",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-08-07T12:08:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Japan Times",
    "slug": "japan-times",
    "url": "https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2026/08/07/world/politics/heat-europe-overcrowded-prisons/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Orleans, France – As temperatures soared above 37 degrees Celsius, a prisoner in a French jail sought solace by dampening his window bars. Inside France's newer Orleans-Saran prison, built in 2014, 29-year-old Manu stayed confined to his bed, attempting to minimize movement. \"You have to cope with it mentally,\" he explained during a visit from a politician this July. The journalist who accompanied the visit spoke with over 40 individuals across France, Italy, and Belgium – including inmates, activists, prison officials, doctors, and union representatives. Many of them expressed concern about a crisis within jails, as the intense heat waves this summer have shed light on long-standing issues of overcrowding and outdated infrastructure.",
  "summary": "Rising temperatures have led to rising tempers, with a lack of ways to cool down causing more fights among inmates and confrontations with staff.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}