As summer sets in and temperatures rise across the islands, an air conditioning problem at the Alva A. Swan Correctional Annex on St. Thomas has a handful of inmates and guards feeling the heat.
The culprit is a malfunctioning condenser, Bureau of Corrections public information officer Juel Anderson said Monday. “The issue only affects one unit, Unit B, which houses approximately eight inmates,” he said.
The malfunctioning unit has been a problem for about two weeks, and Anderson said a search is under way to find contractors to work on it; meanwhile, Corrections is also looking for vendors who sell comparable units.
“They are checking with Puerto Rico for estimates as they are trying to get a determination on whether it’s worth fixing,” Anderson said. “In the interim, several large coolers have been issued to the unit” to ease the heat, he added.
The Annex is designed to hold about 100 inmates, though officials say it often houses more. Inmates are generally persons serving terms of less than two years.
