San Quentin inmates lack water or functional toilets after pipe failure

A failed water pipe at San Quentin State Prison has left 1,698 inmates without drinking water or functional toilets in their cells for days.

Prison Lt. Guim’Mara Berry said that the staff became aware of the problem at about 6:30 a.m. Saturday when “flooding from the outside of the San Quentin State Prison perimeter toward the visiting building and lower parking lot” was reported.

“As a precautionary measure, movement was limited at the institution until the flooding situation was under control,” Berry said. “All areas were checked for flooding, and necessary measures were taken to address the issue.”

Berry said that all leaks and flooding were controlled by 9:30 a.m. Saturday.

“They are investigating the flood. I can only confirm that there is a busted pipe underground,” she said.

Tyler Silvy, a spokesperson for the Marin Municipal Water District, said his agency dispatched a service crew to the area at about 7 a.m. Saturday. Silvy said workers confirmed that the pipe failure occurred within the prison and did not involve a district pipe, although the utility supplies water to the prison.

“They’re our biggest customer,” Silvy said.

The broken pipe has left the “Lower Valley Housing Area” and “East Block” of the prison without access to running water, Berry said. East Block, where condemned inmates are housed, consists of 520 one-person cells spread across five tiers.

“People housed in East Block are being provided ice water, and are being escorted to showers and restrooms as needed,” Berry said. “Water dispensers are available on every tier, and water is currently being offered upon request.”

Donna Larsen, who has a son incarcerated in East Block, said she began getting calls from inmates at the prison over the weekend. She said the inmates told her that the prison had been unable to find a vendor who would deliver the amount of water that they needed, so the staff was using a bucket to distribute water to people in their cells in 8- to-10-ounce allotments.

Larsen said the inmates told her that there was a terrible stench in East Block because toilets can’t be flushed.

Matt Willis, Marin County’s public health officer, said he lacks jurisdiction over the prison but has been in touch with staff there regarding the water outage.

“The way that East Block is organized is with individual cells with toilets in each cell,” Willis said, “and those toilets are no longer flushing because they don’t have water.”

Willis said that because of the hundreds of inmates housed in East Block, “there is a concern that the prison may not have the staffing to escort every individual to a bathroom in a timely way.”

Willis said that ensuring that hand hygiene is available to inmates has been a priority for his team.

“We want to make sure the prison has enough hand wipes so that inmates in that cell block can clean their hands if they need to,” he said.

Willis said the prison staff told him that inmates are now being offered up to six bottles of water each day and the opportunity to shower every three days.

Willis said the staff also assured him that they are taking the needs of inmates with special medical conditions, such as diabetes, into consideration when scheduling bathroom visits.

Larson, however, expressed skepticism.

“You know the guards aren’t going to cuff them up and take them out every time,” Larson said.

Noting that San Quentin was the site of a massive COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, Willis said, “The concern is more about the infrastructure itself.”

“The health hazards are built in with overcrowded conditions in very old buildings,” he said. “This kind of thing will continue to happen until the facility is modernized.”