Repair crews on Tuesday restored water service to Oklahoma State Reformatory in southwestern Oklahoma.
Oklahoma Department of Corrections officials said a leak in a local water line drained the prison’s water tower Sunday night.
The leak drained multiple water towers near the town of Granite, including the prison’s. But state prison officials say malfunctioning pumps at a nearby water treatment plant added to the problem. Without the pumps it was difficult to refill the empty water towers.
People housed at the prison were given gallon-sized jugs of drinking water in their cells and used trash cans of water to flush their toilets. Kitchen workers avoided washing dishes by using paper plates, officials said.
Some inmates working manual labor at the prison were able to use a few showers that were still working. Prison officials say the water is back on and operations are back to normal.
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