Montana State Prison Water ‘Fully Restored’ but Inmates Still on Bottled Water

DEER LODGE — Montana Department of Corrections Director Brian Gootkin announced Monday that water service has been fully restored to all buildings and housing units at Montana State Prison, ending a two-week crisis that left inmates without running water for showers, toilets and sinks.

“Over the past two weeks, our employees, community partners, and the Montana National Guard kept us operational,” said Gootkin, who was nominated by President Trump last week to serve as U.S. Marshal for the District of Montana. “All these folks worked hard to get us to where we are today. We have so many people to thank from our maintenance staff, public safety officers, government partners and businesses who jumped in when we needed help.”

However, inmates remain on bottled water as the facility continues under a boil advisory from the Department of Environmental Quality while water testing continues.

The water crisis began October 10 when multiple pipe breaks occurred in the secure facility compound, forcing the state to mobilize emergency resources including portable toilets, temporary showers, and thousands of bottles of water. The Montana National Guard was called in to assist with the response.

Legislative Foresight

The timing of the crisis revealed prescient legislative planning. The 2025 Montana Legislature had already allocated $21 million in House Bill 5 specifically for water infrastructure replacement at the prison, recognizing the aging system’s vulnerability months before the emergency.

The existing water and sewer systems at Montana State Prison were built in the 1970s, with decades of deferred maintenance finally catching up to the facility, according to corrections officials.

“The problems MSP has faced are a result of decades old infrastructure,” Gootkin said earlier this month. “Years of deferred maintenance have caught up with us and we’re finding multiple failures throughout the system.”

Governor Greg Gianforte approved the prison’s use of the $21 million allocation on October 15, five days after the crisis began. Construction planning for the new permanent water infrastructure is now underway, with the Department of Corrections meeting with contractors including Sletten Construction and DLR this week.

Part of Larger Prison Expansion

The water system failure occurred amid a $211 million reconstruction project at Montana State Prison, part of a broader state effort to expand correctional capacity and bring Montana inmates housed out-of-state back home.

The Legislature’s investment in prison infrastructure extends beyond the water crisis response. House Bill 5 included $186 million for new prison dormitory units and facility updates, while House Bill 833 authorized $250 million for construction of an entirely new prison.

Construction on new low-security housing units at Montana State Prison, funded by $156 million allocated by the 2023 Legislature, began in April and is scheduled for completion in October 2027.

The water infrastructure project will serve both existing prison structures and the new units currently under construction. The new system is designed to be modern and permanent, replacing infrastructure that has required increasingly frequent emergency repairs.

As the facility meets water stability goals, the Department of Corrections has begun removing temporary assets like portable toilets that were brought in during the crisis. However, the ongoing boil advisory serves as a reminder that the underlying infrastructure challenges that prompted the legislative allocation remain unresolved.

“There is still a lot of work to be done but this is a big win,” Gootkin said.