More than 20 people held at D.C.’s Central Cell Block since Friday have been without air conditioning, say activists and city officials.

Jail support organizers report many individuals did not receive adequate health care and water from facility staff during the outage at the facility, which is used to hold people after they are arrested.

D.C. Councilmember Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) confirmed Monday in a tweet that repairs to CCB’s HVAC units are underway and people are being moved to air-conditioned locations. Allen also clarified that the outages only occurred at CCB, not the D.C. Jail. (In the past, the aging jail has also had issues with heating and cooling.)

Miranda Rosenfelt, an organizer with community jail support, which volunteers at the facility every Monday, told DCist/WAMU there were allegedly at least two medical emergencies over the weekend including a woman who experienced approximately five seizures and a man who suffered two heart attacks. So far, they say facility staff refuses to speak with them.

“The DC Department of Corrections is committed to providing a safe and secure environment for the women and men in our care,” DOC Director Quincy Booth wrote DCist in an emailed statement. “We are aware of the HVAC issues at the Central Cell Block (located at Daly Building) and are working with the Department of General Services on completing repairs. In the interim, all residents will be moved to police district stations until the situation is resolved.”

Diamond Whiticker is one-and-a-half months pregnant and was transferred to central lockup Saturday night after an altercation with her boyfriend. Whiticker says when she was admitted to the facility she noticed the cell felt especially warm, and her cellmate told her it would only get worse. By the end of the night, she says she was down to her underwear and tried to sleep the heat off as much as possible.

“I was asking for water. I was telling them ‘I’m sweating bullets, I need cold water,’” she says. “They were ignoring me. They were denying it. I was asking to go to the nurse because as you can imagine if you’re sitting in like 90-degree heat, especially with a month-and-a-half baby inside of you, he just started making my head pound.”

Whiticker confirms she saw a woman in the cell next to hers experience multiple seizures and repeatedly asked facility staff for assistance and water. “She kept saying ‘I feel like they’re gonna let me die,’” Whiticker says.

Yonah Bromberg Gaber, an organizer with community jail support, says this is not the first instance of sub-par conditions organizers have seen at the lockup next to D.C. Superior Court, including issues with the heat during winter.

“We would very regularly have people come out and tell us they were basically freezing in their cells,” they say. “As it has gotten warmer, now the AC has become the issue.”

Community jail support volunteers typically meet people — some of who are undocumented residents — outside the facility with food, water, and cell phones, which they can use to reorient themselves after a few nights spent in lock up.

Bromberg Gaber says the A/C outage is part of a larger pattern of neglect from CCB.

“The cooling issue has a wider impact on everyone,” they say. “In terms of neglect, it is appalling but not shocking.”

This story was updated with comment from DOC.