Aging infrastructure plagues Parchman

The State Penitentiary at Parchman continues to grapple with aging pipes and other woes, battling a boil-water alert this past week.

“The prison’s infrastructure is aging and unstable,” said Vanessa Carroll, an attorney for inmates at the prison. “We will most likely continue to see serious problems with plumbing and clean water delivery, and the individuals incarcerated at Parchman will continue to suffer unsanitary and unhealthy living conditions.”

Officials from the Mississippi Department of Corrections say they provide healthy conditions and will continue to fix problems. They also point to future help.

A state Department of Finance and Administration study concluded that $38 million is needed over the next five years to address poor conditions at Parchman, Central Mississippi Correctional Facility in Rankin County and South Mississippi Correctional Institution in Leakesville.

These upgrades are needed “to ensure the safety of staff and the public as well as maintain security, custody and control of inmates,” said Grace Fisher, spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections.

This past summer, two Republican lawmakers, state Sen. Sally Doty of Brookhaven and state Rep. Nolan Mettetal of Sardis, who are members of the Public Property Committee in their respective chambers, toured Parchman to assess needs.

Doty said they saw serious security issues, such as inmates creating holes in the walls with bed frames.

“It was pretty eye opening,” she said. “There’s a sense among some in the state that those in prison have it easy, but that’s certainly not the case at Parchman.”

The overall question for Mississippi is “where are we going to invest our money?” she asked. “How can we spend close to $40,000 a year for a prisoner and we spend $5,000 or $6,000 on educating our kids?”

Yet spending on prisons is something that does have to be done, she said. “It’s always a struggle as we try to divide our resources.”

Last summer, Parchman had one of its four wells go out, leaving inmates for days without drinking water. Inmates were given bottled water instead.

On Sept. 12, Dawn Manix, whose husband is an inmate there, told The Clarion-Ledger that the water had an odor. “I refused to drink it,” she said. “It’s making my husband sick.”

She said he and other inmates have reported skin-related ailments, which one doctor attributed to the water.

On Monday evening, the Health Department issued a boil-water alert for Parchman after a sample revealed the presence of coliform bacteria in drinking water. Coliform indicates the possible presence of further bacteria.

“The old wells had nothing to do with the latest water situation,” Fisher said “Three of the four wells are functioning properly; however, we are quite mindful of the prison’s aging infrastructure.”

Alesha C. Judkins, senior supervising advocate for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said on Monday she received several calls from relatives of those being held in Parchman’s Unit 30, saying prisoners were getting sick from the water, suffering from cramps, diarrhea, rashes and vomiting.

On Tuesday, inmates began receiving bottled water.

“We keep some bottled water on hand, but not in mass quantities; therefore, we had to buy bottled water,” Fisher said.

Prison officials moved in a timely manner to provide both inmates and staff bottled water, she said.

On Thursday, after two days of testing revealed no bacteria, Health Department officials lifted the boil-water alert.

In May, Health Department inspectors found dozens of showers, sinks, toilets and water fountains that didn’t work at Parchman. Others leaked, were stopped up or ran continuously.

Inspectors found a pipe leak, more than 100 sheets with rust on them, mold and mildew on some ceilings and walls, and one electrical outlet that was “sparking.”

A follow-up report said all these problems had been fixed.

On Jan. 26, inmate Alex Sumrall complained to Health Department officials about a lack of hot water in Unit 26. “The hot water has been messed up here since July 2014,” he wrote.

The problem arose, he wrote, when the contractor replaced the 715,000 BTU unit hot water heaters with 199,000 BTU units.

“These new units are too small to keep up the capacity for the 500 inmates,” he told the Health Department. “We find ourselves taking showers in cold water with it 20 degrees outside and not much warmer inside. Is this a health hazard?”

On Feb. 18, prison officials informed the Health Department that pipes had been repaired, that capacity for more hot water had been added and that hot water temperatures now reached at least 100 degrees.

J. Cliff Johnson, director of the University of Mississippi’s MacArthur Justice Center, said it’s no surprise that “a prison initially constructed in 1901 and maintained for decades on a shoestring budget is falling apart. The state of Mississippi continues to try to hold that place together with chicken wire and bubble gum, but I just don't think it can be done. The inmates housed at Parchman are our sons, brothers, and fathers, and they deserve better — regardless of what mistakes they may have made.”

Contact Jerry Mitchell at jmitchell@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7064. Follow @jmitchellnews on Twitter.