Contaminated Water Reports Prompt ACLU To Request Tests At Arizona Prison
About 1,000 Hawaii prisoners are serving time at the privately operated Saguaro Correctional Center, and some inmates there report the water is making them ill.
Hawaii inmates serving sentences at an Arizona prison allege the water there is contaminated and unsafe, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawaii to request independent testing of the water.
ACLU Legal Director Wookie Kim said a half dozen prisoners have complained about the water at Saguaro Correctional Center, with some saying the tap water has made them ill. Others report they suffer eye and skin irritation from the prison showers, to the Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and CoreCivic, which operates Saguaro.
“The water tastes toxic and foul,” the letter says. “One individual shared that it has a ‘chlorinated’ ‘sulfurous taste,’ as if there was a ‘chemical cleaning’ agent in it. Another shared that the water tastes ‘heavily chlorinated’ and has a ‘greasy, viscous’ feel — one that leaves an ‘awful aftertaste’ in the back of the throat.”
The letter asks that an independent water quality expert be retained to test the water source that serves Saguaro. It also requests bottled water and water filters be provided to the inmates.
Hawaii holds nearly 1,000 prison inmates at Saguaro because there is no room for them in state-run correctional facilities.
CoreCivic built and manages the water supply system that serves Saguaro and three other prisons in Eloy, Arizona, and the ACLU letter questions whether the company is complying with the
It also alleges Saguaro staff were told not to drink the prison tap water and reports the prison provides bottled water for the staff.
The inmates can only get bottled water by buying it from the prison commissary at prices that are nearly triple what the water would cost if purchased from a local Arizona vendor, according to the ACLU. The and the Hawaii to explain that price difference.
The letter also warns the prison’s “water practices” may violate constitutional provisions prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment, and may amount to discrimination under the federal
The Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said in a statement it is in contact with CoreCivic, but did not provide further comment Monday. Core Civic did not respond to a request for comment.
