Running water has returned to Sheridan Federal Correctional Institution after adults in custody spent much of the weekend without it.
Scott Taylor, a spokesperson for the Bureau of Prisons, the federal agency that oversees the medium-security facility, said the water returned Sunday afternoon. Taylor wrote in a written statement that the situation remained under control.
“All incarcerated individuals maintained, and will continue to maintain, access to potable water, portable washing stations, essential hygiene kids and portable waste units,” Taylor wrote.
The Federal Correctional Institution in Sheridan.
Ericka Cruz Guevarra/OPB
Still, Taylor said federal prison officials plan to continue handing out bottled water to staff and inmates for the near future while the city of Sheridan’s boil water advisory remains in place.
The water shut off after a landslide caused an off-site water line to burst on Friday, following a week of severe rain across western Oregon.
Taylor reiterated a statement from the weekend that he would not provide “sensitive” details of whether the facility is prepared for extreme weather going forward, but said the Bureau of Prisons has “contingency plans in place to address a large range of concerns or incidents.”
City officials said the pipe had been repaired as of Saturday, but planned a “purge” of the pipes. Sheridan Mayor Cale Aaron George on Monday asked residents to continue conserving water and hoped the boil advisory would lift soon.
“In the meantime,” Aaron George wrote, “bottled water is available at City Hall for folks who need it.”
