Texas Prison Bid'ness

Corrections Corporation of America is running out of water at it's Bartlett State Jail, according to an articlein the Dallas Morning News ("Boil water notice for Bartlett, backup well in use," January 7). 

A boil water notice has been issued for Bartlett where a shortage has led to using an emergency well and portable toilets for a state jail.

The 1,049-bed Bartlett State Jail ordered portable restrooms and 5,000 bottles of water after briefly losing city service. Steve Owen with Corrections Corp. of America says employees Wednesday occasionally shut off water so an onsite tower could refill.

Water levels in the city's two elevated storage tanks have been declining. Officials suspect a pump malfunction.

A backup well, which failed an assessment less than two years ago, was brought online this week after passing a bacterial test.

While this story doesn't seem important on its own, it does show the dramatic resource usage that prisons can often take up in small communities.