There are iconic movie scenes that drive home the stereotype. Morgan Freeman‘s Red dealing cigarettes in “The Shawshank Redemption” may be the ultimate example of the trope — packs of smokes are gold in prison. But formerly incarcerated people in New Jersey say they aren‘t dealing in Marlboros and Camels these days. Their currency of choice? Bottled water.
It’s thanks to putrid stuff pumping through the pipes in at least several of the state‘s correctional facilities, and a limited supply of taxpayer-funded bottled water to go around, ex-prisoners and prison reform advocates say.
“The water stinks,” said Ronald Long, 66, who was behind bars for 36 years for a murder he says he didn‘t commit.
“...You could tell how bad the water was when it was still. If you left a cup of water sitting, it would have a film on the top.”
It’s hard to give a blanket diagnosis for potential problems in New Jersey’s vast prison system — about 11,000 people are incarcerated across nine different state prisons, plus more at juvenile detention centers — and they’re all served by different water systems. What might be plaguing one place may not be an issue at another.
Still, advocates and researchers at New Jersey nonprofits and colleges are ringing the alarm. They say anecdotes from prisoners warrant a larger probe into both the state of drinking water in New Jersey prisons and what they describe as a lack of overall monitoring and transparency about the conditions. Activists with Clean Water Action and Women Who Never Give Up — propelled by ongoing research from Kean University — have launched a petition to urge lawmakers to investigate jailhouse water quality and streamline the management and oversight of what they call an opaque process without many clear answers.
A spokesman for the Department of Corrections, which ultimately oversees everything inside state prisons, said its facilities have no reported water quality issues and that it conducts routine and regular water quality testing.
“During a water emergency, bottled water is provided to all impacted incarcerated persons by providing a minimum of six 16-ounce water bottles per day,” said a DOC spokesman, noting an emergency could be a water main break or power outage.
But the formerly incarcerated say their issues are just getting overlooked. Getting support for these problems isn‘t easy, activists say, because life for prisoners who have committed serious crimes isn‘t comfortable — that’s the point. Advocates argue the basic needs of people incarcerated aren‘t being met, and that’s not part of the deal.
“People have a right to their health,” said Simone Braithwaite, an environmental justice organizer with Clean Water Action. “At the end of the day, these are people and they deserve to serve their time with dignity and with access to healthy conditions.”
The water fountain is off
Phillip Dixon was just 20 when he was convicted of murdering a 13-year-old Camden girl during a robbery. He served 37 years at New Jersey State Prison, during which he says he became an advocate for prisoners’ rights. Not because he denied his crime or felt that he didn‘t need to pay for it. But because no one else is concerned with the health and well-being of the prison population. He called people incarcerated the “bottom of the totem pole” — and said water is a prime example.
Prisoners learn quickly not to drink from the sinks, he said.
“Because you don‘t know what‘s going to happen to you after you drink out of the tap. You‘re going to be sitting on the toilet all day or seeing a doctor,” Dixon, now 58, said. “That‘s typical.”
One man, currently incarcerated at Garden State Youth Correctional Facility and speaking on the condition of anonymity, told NJ Advance Media that facility appears to be rotting in places. In the past, his water has tasted “like pennies,” he said.
A recently released report from the state Ombudsperson seemed to back up some of the prisoners’ claims, pointing to numerous poor conditions at Garden State, including issues with water.
An April report from the state Ombudsperson about Garden State Youth Correctional echoed conditions described by a young inmate. That included out of service water fountains and showers with rust, stains, and “caked-on grime.”Office of the Corrections Ombudsperson
Water fountains at the youth prison, which houses people in their early 20s, were taken out of service several years ago. The report did not detail why. It also found water fountains and showers had rust, stains, and “caked-on grime.”
Prisoners say a limited supply of water bottles are sometimes provided in some facilities, but the Ombudsperson noted drinks were not served with lunch or dinner, and no additional liquids were provided at any time to supplement the tap water in individual cells, according to the report.
In the youth prison, people are authorized to purchase four cases of bottled water per month in June, July, and August, the report said. Advocates said prisoners can buy two 24-bottle cases of water a month at other points of the year.
It adds up to big numbers — between January 2020 and March 2025, the state bought 553,412 cases of water to provide to prisoners, according to Department of Correction records obtained by NJ Advance Media via Open Public Records Act requests.
That’s over 13 million bottles of taxpayer-funded water at a cost of roughly $2.5 million in just over 5 years.
But several prisoners told NJ Advance Media that supply isn‘t enough, and they end up hoarding water bottles and using them as prison currency, the way those in Hollywood trade menthols.
It’s better than the alternative, prisoners say, because water in lockup has a specific taste — “like medicine,” Long said.
The purchase limit on water bottles is necessary for the safety and security of the population, a spokesman for the DOC said. Officials did not elaborate on the reason behind the limit. And while they say prisons have been supplying people incarcerated with water bottles since at least 1999, they did not provide a reason for doling out the bottles or why the DOC started providing the bottled alternative to the tap.
Publicly available data from the state, reviewed by NJ Advance Media, showed dozens of water monitoring or reporting lapses at the public water systems associated with Bayside State Prison, Northern State Prison, South Woods State Prison, New Jersey State Prison, and Garden State Youth Correctional Facility over the last five years.
Just those facilities house over 8,800 people, as of this month.
Some violations found across New Jersey prisons include:
- At Bayside State Prison, state drinking water data shows the facility received several violations in recent years for failing to submit its annual lead service line replacement progress report, which is required under the Lead Service Line Replacement Law.
- Bayside was also cited for submitting late monitoring reports on E. coli, coliform, and cancer-causing PFAs on numerous occasions dating back to 2011.
- A recent state citation shared with NJ Advance Media by Clean Water Action included a high level of a secondary contaminant called “manganese,” at Albert C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility, which still supplies water to Garden State Youth Correctional Facility, this past December. Experts said the metal can turn water black and have it stain teeth and clothing, but is only a physical concern for those with compromised health systems and long-term exposure.
- The same facility was also flagged for not testing its levels of a compound called “1,2,3-Trichloropropane,” which can be a carcinogen.
- It was also cited in 2023 for failure to maintain water lines, which caused a 200,000 gallon sewage spill. It’s unclear if that spill affected prison water quality, but state reports say it did dump raw sewage into a nearby creek.
The citations are scattered throughout a vast and varied system, making it difficult to determine the overall picture of conditions and potential health impacts to those behind bars.
Jerry Fagliano, a clinical professor in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health at Drexel University, said water-related citations he‘s reviewed at New Jersey prisons — while broad — can be salient.
“Reporting violations are important because the only way to ensure compliance with safe drinking water standards is to be sure that required monitoring has been completed and results are provided to the regulatory agency.”
State environmental regulators told NJ Advance Media that reporting citations at Bayside State, Albert C. Wagner and Northern State have been addressed and the facilities are now in compliance.
A spokesman for the Department of Environmental Protection, which is responsible for water testing and monitoring throughout the state, said the public community water systems serving correctional facilities are subject to the same requirements set for all water systems.
In response to the specific citations, regulators said the findings have either not escalated to the level of response on their end or facilities have returned to compliance as of May.
Still, Sydnie Bogan, a project coordinator for Women Who Never Give Up, said her group gathered testimony and anecdotes from more than 70 people. “Ranging from family members, to currently incarcerated individuals, and formerly incarcerated individuals,” she said.
Prisoners and advocates note the problems may not be in the water itself, but the aging infrastructure it’s flowing through. More probing is needed, they argue, to determine why the water smells and tastes the way it does.
Sydnie Bogan, a graduate research assistant at Kean University studying environmental and health risks experienced by those incarcerated in New Jersey, has partnered with former inmate Ronnie Long and New Jersey Environmental Justice Organizer Simone Braithwaite to advocate for better conditions in New Jersey's prisons.Ed Murray| For NJ Advance Media
What activists want
The clarity activists are seeking could be difficult to compile — and as complicated as the entire state‘s water infrastructure.
New Jersey has over 600 community water systems which provide drinking water to approximately 87% of the state‘s population. The rest get water from private wells.
Three of the state‘s nine correctional facilities are classified as having their own community water systems, according to an agency spokesman. The other facilities are customers of outside public community water systems.
Both types answer to the DEP in terms of water testing and violations. But state environmental regulators are not responsible for the condition of prison buildings themselves, DEP spokesman Larry Hajna said in an email to NJ Advance Media.
“Therefore, compliance with (state and federal water quality) requirements may not fully capture areas of concern related to the maintenance of the internal plumbing and building water infrastructure,” he said.
Hajna said the DEP is currently coordinating with corrections officials to address issues, such as building management plans, with the three prisons classified as public community water systems.
Clean Water Action and Women Who Never Give Up are asking the state to take a more comprehensive look at prison water quality in all nine prisons.
“If we‘re looking at the public facilities and it’s in the public sector, it’s on the government to improve that infrastructure and ensure that infrastructure is healthy and sound and safe for people inside,” said Galia Shokry, an assistant professor of environmental and sustainability sciences at Kean University.
Maurice Romero, a prisoner-turned-activist, served over three decades at both East Jersey and New Jersey state prisons for a number of crimes, including accessory to murder.
The 54-year-old — who described being served “dirty” water and not being able to flush his toilet due to a lack of running water or poor water pressure — called for an independent agency to be put in charge of water testing at prisons.
“I‘m speaking out about this situation because I was in prison from the age of 15 to 51. I‘ve seen and smelled sewer water. I‘ve seen and smelled brown water ...” And, he said, he doesn‘t trust the state monitoring that does occur.
The DOC says it has no confirmed cases of illness or death caused by water quality issues. Still, Romero believes the water in prison has made him sick. Even if he can‘t know that for sure, he says it has had other lingering effects.
After getting out of prison in 2022, “I lived in Newark for two years. Never did I drink from the faucet,” he said. “And never did I use tap water for cooking, or brushing my teeth. I now live in Perth Amboy and still only use bottled water.”
Simone Braithwaite, New Jersey Environmental Justice Organizer for Clean Water Advocate, is part of a group demanding immediate action from state authorities to improve water quality and living conditions in New Jersey's prisons. Ed Murray| For NJ Advance Media
Stories by Steven Rodas
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Steven Rodas may be reached at srodas@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Bluesky at @stevenrodas.bsky.social.
Jackie Roman may be reached at jroman@njadvancemedia.com.