Prison Break: Inmates Forced To Flush With Buckets

An infrastructure breakdown at a prison left inmates flushing their toilets with buckets last week.

“Inmates at the Dick Conner Correctional Center [were] drinking bottled water and using buckets of water to fill their toilets after a waterline break,” The Oklahoman reported.

Service was restored Saturday, according to The Oklahoman. “Officials at the prison said water levels in the 500,000-gallon water tower are being maintained and pressurized, and water now is available throughout the facility,” the report said.

Amid the water service breakdown, Oklahoma Department of Corrections spokeswoman Terri Watkins explained: "We had a waterline break, and then they got the water back on, and then there was a leak at the city level. And now we're trying to pressurize the water.”

Showers continued to work but without sustainable pressure.

“Watkins said aside from bringing in bottled water and ice, each cell was given a bucket of water to refill toilets after each use,” the report said.

Infrastructure challenges run deep at correctional facilities.

“The waterline break at Dick Conner is the latest in a series of infrastructure problems facing the department. Many of the state's prisons are decades old, in some cases more than a century. Over the last several years, the department's budget has not increased enough to keep up with its rising inmate population, causing many buildings to fall into disrepair,” the report said.

Interim Oklahoma Department of Corrections Director Joe Allbaugh bemoaned the antiquated state of prison system in an interview with Oklahoma Watch in February.

“I think in a lot of respects we’re not even in the 20th Century,” he said.

“We've got facilities that are over 100 years old here. We have locks and doors that don't work,” he told The Oklahoman.

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