Water outage reported at Arizona's Eyman prison in Florence

Despite an annual budget of $1.3 billion, the Arizona Department of Corrections cannot seem to provide consistent running water to the Eyman state prison in Florence.

Incarcerated people first reported a water outage in the early morning on Oct. 2. Hundreds of men were forced to share portable toilets and just a few gallon jugs of drinking water in several units at the prison, which houses more than 5,100 people. 

Multiple people incarcerated at Eyman communicated with The Arizona Republic via email from Oct. 2-10, asking not to be named out of fear of retribution. 

“We have no water and may not for several days,” one man wrote. “So far they have provided two porta potties for 800 people plus 16 oz of water for the day. Conditions may improve but I’m not hopeful.”

Several men said the department was not providing enough drinking water during the outages. A prisoner who lives in the Cook Unit at Eyman said “they brought a ten gallon jug in twice since 3 pm but that doesn’t last long split between 100 guys.”

After the initial weekend outages, prisoners reported the water was being turned on intermittently for use, but appeared to be contaminated. “Water that we are getting has a lot of sediment, such as dirt or something unknown in it,” an incarcerated man said. “We are sweating in our areas since we only have evap coolers. We are in a struggle to decide whether to use the water we do get for hygiene, food, or drinking.”

Many of the units at the Eyman prison use evaporative cooling systems known as “swamp coolers,” which rely on water to provide somewhat cooler air.

Several incarcerated people voiced their concerns about maintaining their health and hygiene without access to running water.

“They tell us to go to meds and take them without water,” one man wrote. “We have overflowing johns without any type of sanitizer. All this on top of they still preach COVID protocols but yet being unhygienic and not washing our hands and sharing the same john is ok?”

Addressing the water outage

Finally, on Oct. 3, a Deputy Warden Eccles sent an email to the incarcerated people at Eyman addressing the outage.

“I know there are a lot of questions about today’s water issues,” the deputy warden wrote. “What I know is there was an issue with the well not filling. Maintenance is on site working on the problem.” The deputy warden said Eyman had connected to the Florence prison pipeline while they attempted to fill the well tanks.

As the problems continued, incarcerated people reported the prison administrators continued to restrict their access to showers and water for their evaporative coolers.

Another incarcerated man said the department wasn’t properly managing the dispersal of the water, so in some units, the prisoners who control the yards were hoarding it.

“They are woefully unable to provide basic resources in an emergency,” he wrote. “It was a free-for-all to get any water from the jug, and of course the tough guys had plenty while the rest of us suffered.”

Lack of water impacting prisoners

Lydia Navejar’s son is incarcerated at Eyman. She said she has been in constant contact with him during the water outage, trying to reassure him that things will get better. But she says they are both losing hope.

“They look forward to things like showers,” she said. “It’s important for their mental health as well as their hygiene. Being able to flush the toilet is very important, especially for the men who live in cells with other prisoners.”

Navejar says it's the little things that people in the outside world take for granted as well. “They have a very set structure,” she said. “Their whole day is based on a routine to keep them going. So being able to get up and brush their teeth and make coffee in the morning — those things are really important. This has all been very disruptive for them.”

She says her son hasn’t had access to enough drinking water, and more than 300 prisoners in his living area are sharing the same portable toilet. 

“Instead of showers, they are taking what they call bird baths,” Navejar said, which involves using bottled water to wash parts of their bodies in their cells.

She says indigent prisoners are suffering the most. “They can't afford to pay for laundry soap, so they are forced to wash their clothes in the sink or the toilet. But they can't do that without running water in their cells.”

When the prison has turned the water on for scheduled use, Navejar says her son told her he believes it was contaminated. “I feel bad letting the water run,” he told her, “but we have to let the brown sediment wash out of it.”

Water well undergoing repairs

On Oct. 6, Department of Corrections spokesman Bill Lamoreaux said the well that supplies the water to Eyman was undergoing repairs. 

“Water has been restored to all areas of the Eyman complex permitting the use of restroom facilities, i.e., sinks, toilets, urinals and showers,” Lamoreaux said. “Igloo coolers and bottled water are also maintained on the units to supplement the water resources, and regular meal services remain uninterrupted. The repairs are estimated to be completed this week, and ADCRR complex leadership continues to inform the inmate population on repair updates.”

But more than a week after the outages first began, incarcerated people and their families maintained the water problems are ongoing, and the department is not providing them with any new information.

On Oct. 10, a man living at Eyman said his unit had been without their evaporative coolers for eight days. “Our housing gets at a minimum ten to fifteen degrees hotter than the outside temp,” he wrote. “Additionally, today they cut off our laundry again so we are unable to be hygienic and wash our clothing or our bedding, after we have been sweating in our beds.” 

History of water issues for DOC

This is not the first instance of a water outage at Eyman. In June, when high temperatures were regularly above 110 degrees in Florence, prisoners also reported their evaporative cooling systems were not working. At the time, the department said the outages were due to “scheduled work on plumbing.”

Water supply problems have plagued the department for years. As KJZZ reported in October 2019, after inmates in the Douglas prison complained of brown, foul smelling water, the Arizona Department of Corrections confirmed water at the prison had a “noticeable petroleum odor and taste.” 

Water outages have become so common across the entire Arizona prison system that the department purchased a tanker truck to haul water for $18,000 in December of 2020.

Navejar says she’s worried for her son, because when temperatures rise in the prison, so do the tempers.

“It takes a toll on him. And it takes a toll on our family,” she said. “But I just tell him to keep his head down. We’ve been through worse at the hands of the Arizona prison system and I imagine we’ll have to endure much more before he gets out.”

Have a news tip on Arizona prisons? Reach the reporter at jjenkins@arizonarepublic.com or at 812-243-5582. Follow him on Twitter @JimmyJenkins.

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