INMATES WIN SUIT OVER WATER AT NAVASOTA PRISON UNIT

  

Officials with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice says the agency plans to appeal a ruling ordering the water supply at a Navasota prison unit be replaced.

Inmates recently won a lawsuit claiming they had no choice but to drink arsenic-laden water to cool off in the summer months.

U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison gave the Texas Department of Criminal Justice 2 weeks to improve the water at the Wallace Pack Unit so that it complies with EPA standards.

Jason Clark, a spokesman for the Texas prison system, said TDCJ installed a new water filtration system at the Pack Unit, which lowered the levels near the new federal standard.

Clark says the water at the Pack Unit is safe to drink according to standards set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Texas Department of State Health Services.

The Wallace Pack Unit is a medical and geriatric facility that has a high population of inmates who are over 65 or have serious medical conditions.

Jeff Edwards, an Austin-area attorney who represented the inmates, said the TDCJ has spent more money litigating this case than it would have cost to replace the water supply.