BOZEMAN — The Montana State Prison has been dealing with a water crisis for a week.
"Six or seven bottles of water is maybe what you should drink per day, but they're not factoring in every other thing that we have to use that for," said an inmate.
An inmate at the prison, whose identity we chose to withhold, said the bottled water they receive isn’t just for drinking.
“We have to use that to brush our teeth, wash our hands, and to take a shower if we need to."
Watch: Montana State Prison inmates face water crisis with limited bottles for all daily needs
Montana State Prison officials said that "inmates are given seven bottles of water a day" and that "there are 15 hand washing units dispersed through the security compound."
In an update released Thursday evening, the DOC said its maintenance crews made progress on restoring water access to the prison.
“In the face of the ongoing system failures, the Department of Corrections made progress today in restoring water access,” Montana Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin said. “While we continue to make progress, we want to reiterate that building the replacement system is going to take time. As we move forward, we are committed to supporting our inmates and staff through this transition.”
Representatives from Sletten Construction and DLR walked the grounds at Montana State Prison as they started work on a plan to replace the facility’s failing water system beginning next week. Funding for the water system replacement was allocated by the 2025 Montana Legislature earlier this year. House Bill 5 provided $21 million to pay for the infrastructure replacement, which will serve new units under construction at the prison as well as existing structures.
According to the release, maintenance crews replaced toilet valves in several units, restoring water to the Secure Adjustment Unit and units 1 and 2 on the high-security side of the facility. Tomorrow, the team will continue that work in units on the low-security side. Construction of the new water system was previously scheduled to begin in 2026.
Nicole Gomez Patalano, the Justice Initiative Director at Catalyst Montana, a non-profit community organizer group, said they've been connecting with people who have family members at Montana State Prison.
“For the last seven days, they’ve been describing conditions without running water, including limited drinking water, unequally distributed water bottles, that folks have to ration for both drinking and hygiene," she said.
According to the Montana Department of Corrections, there are 153 portable toilets and 43 portable showers at the prison.
“What I heard from a family member yesterday was that they are shower tents,” said Patalano. “So they are outside in the snow, and people are having to shower in those conditions.”
Patalano added that family members' biggest concerns right now are "hygiene, health, and safety."
"They’re worried about infection, dehydration, and the mental toll."
“Restoring water to the units for inmates was a big win for us,” Gootkin said. “We hope tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 17, 2025) will be just as successful on the other side of the compound. In the interim, we’re doing everything we can to keep everyone as comfortable as possible using bottled water, portable toilets, portable showers, hand-washing stations, and more.”
Emergency efforts underway at MSP are being funded through the use of disaster emergency funds as allowed under Governor Greg Gianforte’s emergency declaration last week. While it is too early to estimate total costs, more information will be shared as the scope and duration of response and repair efforts become clearer.
