California Prison Plagued by Toxic Water and Chronic Illness
For decades, prisoners at Mule Creek State Prison outside of Sacramento, California have raised the alarm about the drinking water. Based on interviews with over 100 prisoners, ex-prisoners, family members, and prison staff, reporting from The Appeal and Type Investigations found that there have been serious issues with Mule Creek’s tap water for at least 20 years. According to these sources, the water tastes “like chemicals or metal,” smells “foul” and “fishlike,” and appears “dirty brown” or “foggy.” Many prisoners have reported illnesses while locked up at Mule Creek, including forms of cancer and kidney and liver problems that are linked to exposure to environmental pollutants. Contractors have gotten sick while on the job. And guards typically bring bottled water to work.
The source of Mule Creek’s contaminated water dates back to its construction in 1985, when 1,700 housing units were built alongside on-site facilities for coffee roasting, meat packing, welding, and dry cleaning, among others. These industries produce toxic chemicals, and prisoners say the runoff was dumped down the drain for years without being treated. And as Mule Creek grew, the problem only got worse. A series of reports and environmental lawsuits led to a 2023 consent decree in which the state Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation agreed to improve Mule Creek’s drainage and waste disposal systems. But the repairs were limited to outflows that leaked into the nearby creek, and not the lines that carry sanitary and drinking water, which are at-risk of cross-contamination for being too close to sewer lines in some places. One staff plumber described the system as if “they took a bunch of spaghetti, just threw it in a hole, and tied the ends in.”
Mule Creek prisoners cannot buy bottled water at the commissary, and the prison has repeatedly dismissed concerns about water quality and its link to chronic illness. In California and across the United States, many prisons and jails suffer from water quality issues. Nearly 1 million prisoners, for example, are caged in facilities that draw water from sources contaminated with toxic PFAS, a broad category of “forever chemicals” that have been tied to cancer, thyroid issues, decreased immunity, and a host of other health problems. “If you want to live,” Mule Creek prisoner Mike Cahill, 84, who had a cancerous tumor on his kidney removed in 2022, told The Appeal, “don’t drink the water.”
Sources: The Appeal, Type Investigations, The Guardian