Locked out of water: a reflection on WaSH access in US prisons

The United Nations' global minimum standards for prisons are termed the 'Nelson Mandela Rules' and are based on the humane treatment of incarcerated people. Of the approximately 11.5 million people incarcerated worldwide, over two million are located in the United States (US). Mass incarceration is maintained by political, economic, and societal structures of inequality and discrimination. The lens of safely managed sanitation provides a window into the treatment and lived realities of people who are incarcerated. This article synthesizes the existing literature and builds on this foundational knowledge with accounts from people who have experienced living in the US prison system. Throughout the literature and across these lived accounts we find a severe lack of privacy, emotional distress, consistent Human Rights violations, and evidence of those in positions of power in prisons using control over water and sanitation to enact excessive punishment. Denying these fundamental rights restricts people's health and well-being, and contributes to further dehumanization and trauma, which is detrimental to the individual and to the wider society. We find that one route toward revealing the extent of discrimination against incarcerated people, and beginning to make impactful, person-centered change, is focusing on full, safe, and dignified access to WaSH services.