Mayor Lyda Krewson says portable, industrial-size air conditioners will be installed at a St. Louis jail where inmates have been begging for relief from the heat.The five units, weighing between 25 and 50 tons, should all be online by the end of the week, according to the mayor. They're expected to drop temperatures from more than 100 degrees to 78 at the Medium Security Institution, better known as the workhouse.
"Once my administration determined that temporary air conditioning was a viable solution, I ordered that temporary air conditioning units be installed as soon as possible," Krewson said today in a statement.
City officials have been under pressure to find some kind of solution for the overheated inmates since Tuesday when a video was posted to Facebook showing detainees screaming out of the windows for help.
"Help us!" cried one man. "We ain't got no A/C!"
The video quickly went viral, leading to protests last night outside of the workhouse on Hall Street along the north riverfront.…