/ Modified aug 7, 2024 9:51 a.m.

Pima County heat program converts old Tucson jail facility into latest cooling center

Tucsonans now have access to a new cooling center at the Mission Annex facility — a former minimum-security jail — on the city’s west side.

tucson skyline 20200722 Central Tucson from Sentinel Peak.
Nick O'Gara/AZPM

Pima County is expanding a summer program that offers free cooling sites during the day in various parts of Tucson.

Tucsonans now have access to a new cooling center at the Mission Annex facility — a former minimum-security jail — on the city’s west side.

It’s open and free to use from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. weekdays and 10a.m.-6 p.m. on the weekends — and equipped with AC, water and chairs.

It’s the latest addition to the county’s Beat the Heat program — which has set up a few dozen cooling sites around Tucson and the rest of the county, in addition hydration stops and other sites called respite centers, where people can lay down. Officials say the Mission Annex site was chosen because it’s an area with fewer resources and more mobile home parks — where heat deaths and injuries are more likely to occur — and is also close to the another

Kate Vesely is the director of the Pima County Department of Justice Services. She says the building has been empty since 2020 but because of its history as a jail, it already had AC and water capabilities.

Vesely says she also hopes that its proximity to the county’s Transitional Center — a justice services site that aims to help people charged with non-violent misdemeanors navigate the court system and prevent re-incarceration — can help connect people with more resources.

‘We might have folks who come into the Transition Center after they've gotten released from jail and say, you know, ‘I just really need some place where I can rest for a while,’ and they can come over here,” she said. “Likewise, if we have folks who come in here seeking cooling services only to realize that there's other stuff that we can potentially support them with, we can send them over to the transition center.”

KJZZ
This story was produced by KJZZ, the public radio station in Phoenix, Arizona.
By posting comments, you agree to our
AZPM encourages comments, but comments that contain profanity, unrelated information, threats, libel, defamatory statements, obscenities, pornography or that violate the law are not allowed. Comments that promote commercial products or services are not allowed. Comments in violation of this policy will be removed. Continued posting of comments that violate this policy will result in the commenter being banned from the site.

By submitting your comments, you hereby give AZPM the right to post your comments and potentially use them in any other form of media operated by this institution.
AZPM is a service of the University of Arizona and our broadcast stations are licensed to the Arizona Board of Regents who hold the trademarks for Arizona Public Media and AZPM. We respectfully acknowledge the University of Arizona is on the land and territories of Indigenous peoples.
The University of Arizona