Montana State Prison Pipe Leaks Create Crisis and Prompt Broad Water System Overhaul 

Nearly a week after leaks cut off water for about 1,500 inmates at the state prison in Deer Lodge, inmate Bryce Baltezar said things at the facility are dystopian.

“As soon as you hit the door, it smells like [urine] smacking you right in the face,” Baltezar said in a phone interview with Montana Free Press on Tuesday. The smell of human waste, he continued, has become the new normal.

Baltezar said he’s concerned about sanitation and safety for the roughly 90% of the prison’s population affected by the leak. Montana State Prison houses male inmates and had a population of 1,597 as of Wednesday.

Water supply issues at the prison started at 6 a.m. on Oct. 10. The Department of Corrections has since identified several leaks, ultimately prompting a broad water infrastructure overhaul. The department has not clarified what caused the leaks, but spokesperson Carolynn Stocker said the department “has experienced numerous service interruptions at its various facilities related to extreme weather, failing infrastructure, and more, but none have risen to this level of emergency.”

In a press release Wednesday, Stocker said the prison’s water and sewer system was built in the 1970s and that “work on the system has for the most part been limited to fixing problems, not maintaining or improving the system for the long haul.”

Stocker said that the corrections department will start installing a new water system using $21 million from House Bill 5, a state facilities-focused infrastructure bill passed during the legislative session that concluded in April.

“Years of deferred maintenance have caught up with us, and we’re finding multiple failures throughout the system. We will continue providing water to our inmates while we take on this longer fix,” Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin said in the press release. He has instructed teams working on new units at the prison to begin the water system work as early as next week.

“We are going to simultaneously continue our work to identify the issues with the existing system and install a modern system that will take us into the future,” Gootkin said. “This is not going to be an easy couple of months for inmates or staff, but the end result will be worth it.”

While work is ongoing, water will be temporarily unavailable in some prison units throughout the day, the release stated. There are 153 portable toilets, 13 that are ADA-compliant, and 43 portable showers at the prison, according to a Tuesday statement from Stocker. It took until the end of Wednesday for all inmates to get a chance to shower since the leaks started. Inmates receive a rationed number of water bottles daily for drinking and hygiene. 

Without operational plumbing across 10 buildings, temporary facilities are in short supply, creating tension between guards and inmates, Baltezar said. He said that he has been scrutinized and sometimes berated by correctional officers while using portable toilets, and that he has “never felt so dehumanized in my whole life.”

“I literally just came into my cell and called my wife crying,” Baltezar said.

The department has enlisted a range of groups to aid the situation. About a dozen employees from other branches of the agency have arrived at the facility to assist with security. The Montana National Guard has helped manage the water supply and deploy temporary showers. Water detection firms supported corrections in locating leaks around the premises.

Stocker said the agency was unable to offer an estimate of the incident’s total cost. 

This story originally appeared in the Montana Free Press, which can be found online at montanafreepress.org.