Since 2015, 42-year-old Adrienne “Twin” Boulware had been incarcerated at Central California Women’s Facility (C.C.W.F.). For years, Prism reports, she complained when the summer heat exacerbated her medical conditions.
On July 4th, Boulware waited in 109-degree weather for her medication. Guards offered a single cup of water when they finally arrived. She soon began showing signs of heat exhaustion. Two days later, she died.
C.C.W.F. says Boulware died of an “ongoing, not heat-related medical condition.” But her family crowdfunded an independent autopsy to investigate. Meanwhile, the guards’ terror continued. They starved incarcerated women, placed them on lockdown – then chemically bombed, zip-tied, and beat them.
On August 19, a group of formerly incarcerated women protested outside. Inside, incarcerated women refused their meal trays. They demanded relief from the heat, like air conditioning, cold water, fans, and cooling rags. And on September 4, the Department of Justice announced that it would investigate the attacks by guards and sexual misconduct in C.C.W.F., too.
Boulware won’t be alive to see the outcome of this advocacy. But for those still incarcerated at C.C.W.F. and enduring compounding abuse and misconduct, there’s hope. Her story reminds us that we all have a role in getting free.