DEER LODGE - For the next 60 to 90 days some of the inmates at the Montana State Prison will have to be showering here as the prison has determined they have to completely overhaul their entire water system.
"It doesn’t get any more serious than this. The way you have to look at it is this is a little city, this is a town that no longer has water,” said Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin.
A week prior, prison officials thought there was a leak in their water pipe. After discovering multiple system failures, the Department of Corrections will begin putting in new water lines by next week. The process could take between 60 to 90 days to complete.
WATCH: Montana State Prison replacing entire 50-year-old water system
“This system is over 50 years old, so it’s just time, it’s time, it’s lived its course, and now we have to replace it,” Gootkin said.
Funding will come from approved legislation earlier this year to provide $21 million for infrastructure repairs. Until the system is completed, most inmates will continue to use portable toilets, showers, and bottled water. The National Guard will continue to fill the prison's main water tank.
MTN News has heard concerns from relatives of inmates and an inmate about the conditions at the prison during the water crisis. Prison officials say they are keeping inmates informed about the situation, and they are trying to keep daily life as normal as possible.
“Getting them out of their structure, out of their normal schedule, just like everybody, everybody has their own particular routines, you get them out of there and it’s a disruption and it’s kind of hard,” Warden Jim Salmonsen said.
To ease the disruption, mobile showers have been brought to the prison, so every prisoner can get a shower every three days. Prison staff is asking inmates to cooperate until the water system can be fixed.
“We can’t continue to Band-Aid this thing as we’re building brand-new units. Now’s the time, we need to stop doing the duct tape and fix it and get the new system in,” said Gootkin.
