DEER LODGE - Inmates at Montana State Prison have been without regular water and bathroom access for days after a rupture in the facility's main water supply line was discovered Friday morning.
The Montana National Guard has been using trucks to pump water into the prison's 300,000-gallon water tank to maintain system pressure while crews continue searching for the exact location of the break along the buried waterline.
"We certainly recognize the heightened kind of tension that this scenario could create, so many of our security professionals are out talking to the units to make sure they understand we're doing everything we can to resolve this issue as fast as possible," said Montana Department of Corrections Deputy Director Eric Strauss.
Watch to learn more about the water pipe break at the Montana State Prison:
The water loss has disrupted essential services throughout the facility, affecting approximately 1,600 inmates.
"Everything you could imagine, you know, for food service, for sanitation, showering, flushing of toilets, all that stuff," Strauss said.
Prison officials have been providing inmates with seven bottles of drinking water per day and access to portable toilets, which require staff escorts. About a dozen volunteers from probation and parole have been assisting prison staff during the crisis.
"It's obviously not ideal, but it's kind of the interim solution we have until we fix the problem," Strauss said.
Major Eric Nelson with the Montana National Guard said the unit recently returned from similar training exercises in California, making them well-prepared for this emergency response.
"The cool thing is we're now supporting our community instead of necessarily; that was just an exercise, now, this is real, we're supporting the Department of Corrections," Nelson said.
Families of inmates have contacted news outlets expressing concerns about sanitary conditions, with some reporting inmates are using bags as toilets and haven't been able to shower for days.
Department of Corrections officials maintain that inmates are adapting to the temporary conditions.
"The tenor of the inmates was good, I mean, they were expressing concerns about, like, when are we going to be able to shower and we're recognizing that's a primary need for people, so we're doing everything we can to make sure we can get them a shower as soon as possible," Strauss said.
The Department of Corrections expects to locate the waterline break soon and restore normal water service to the facility.
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