Corrections Officials Deny Prison Water Made Hawaii Inmates Sick
But in an “abundance of caution,” water filters have been ordered for housing units in Arizona where Hawaii prisoners are held.
Claims that the tap water at an Arizona prison is making Hawaii inmates sick are “demonstrably false,” according to a joint statement issued Wednesday by Hawaii corrections officials and private prison operator CoreCivic.
Hawaii holds about 1,000 state prisoners in CoreCivic’s Saguaro Correctional Center in Eloy, Arizona. The this week reported it had received credible complaints from inmates alleging the water there is “contaminated” and “unsafe.”
The prisoners complained they were becoming ill when they drink the water and suffering skin and eye irritation from water from the prison showers. The ACLU asked corrections officials to have independent testing done to determine if the water is contaminated.
The Hawaii Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and denied the allegations but said precautionary measures were being implemented.
“Any claims that the water at SCC is undrinkable or causes medical issues are demonstrably false,” they said in a joint statement.
“Despite the anecdotal one-sided and unsubstantiated allegations made by the ACLU regarding health risks of drinking the water at SCC, there is absolutely no truth to those statements,” the statement said. “In fact, not a single inmate health-related matter has been linked to the drinking water at SCC.”
However, “out of an abundance of caution, several months ago CoreCivic began ordering water filters for all housing units where Hawaii inmates are housed,” according to the statement. It added that the work was completed as of Wednesday.
Wookie Kim, legal director of the ACLU of Hawaii, said a Saguaro inmate told him Tuesday — the day after ACLU went public with its concerns about the water quality — that CoreCivic staff had started installing water filters.
“Do I think that’s a suspicious coincidence? Yes, I do,” Kim said.
also raised concerns about the price of bottled water in the prison commissary, with some prisoners saying they cannot afford the bottled water. The statement from CoreCivic and the state said the price of a case of water was reduced earlier this year from $16.06 to $11.85.
Still, the department and CoreCivic said they would look into the current pricing of bottled water in the commissary to see if “there are more cost-effective options.”
CoreCivic operates the private water system that serves Saguaro and three other prisons in Eloy, and it submits a consumer confidence report annually to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, according to the statement.
The most recent report reflects water testing done in mid-2023, but CoreCivic also uses a third-party vendor to do additional testing. The statement specifically cited daily testing for chlorine residue, monthly testing for coliform bacteria, and less frequent testing for indicators of other contaminants.
“It’s unfortunate that the ACLU of Hawai鈥榠 would issue such a letter and subsequent press release without first contacting either DCR or CoreCivic for facts,” the statement said.
Kim said the statement from prison officials didn’t amount to specific evidence that the water is safe to drink at the point where it is delivered to the Hawaii inmates.
“I think this underscores the importance of having an outside, independent water quality tester,” he said.
