Former Westville Correctional inmates expose the 'inhumane,' 'atrocious' prison conditions

WESTVILLE, Ind. -- Prison faucets spewing brown water is a common sight at Westville Correctional Facility, according to men formerly incarcerated there. They call living conditions at the La Porte County prison "atrocious" and "inhumane."

"You wake up in the morning, and the water is the color of coffee with cream in it. How do you drink it?" one former inmate said. "Not only how do you drink it, how do you bathe in it?"

Another former inmate, whom ABC57 is not directly identifying, provided images that he says came from a cell phone smuggled into the prison, in a desperate attempt to expose the conditions. Those images were posted on social media, racking thousands of views.

The Indiana Department of Corrections (IDOC) refutes the images outright, claiming they are old photos from parts of the prison no longer in use.

IDOC is replacing Westville Correctional Facility with a new, state-of-the-art prison. ABC57 was denied on-site access, but IDOC maintains that the new Westville State Prison, under construction just next door to the current prison, is set to open in mid-2027.

However, former Westville inmates and their loved ones are adamant that conditions are too dire to keep men there for another year as they wait for the new facility to open.

IDOC's website states: "[Westville Correctional Facility] is at the end of its useful life. Three to four times a year, we have a catastrophic failure to some system, requiring emergency heat or water or port-o-potties for days or weeks."

ABC57's Annie Kate sat down with Quintarrius Carter, who started his prison sentence at Westville in January 2025.

"The moment we pulled up, it looked like an abandoned building. I was like, 'This is where we're going?'" he said. "We're still human, you know, y'all go home at the end of the day, so y'all don't have to live here. We live here."

Carter served his time, roughly one year, and was released in January 2026.

"I want to do better for myself because I never want to go back to being put in that position again, to have to live like that," he said. "It was very much so traumatizing."

Back to his life outside of prison, Carter said he wants to use his freedom to try to expose the conditions he suffered through.

"The conditions were inhumane," he said.

For instance, Carter claimed his cell lacked a window; he and others had bars on the windows, but no glass, he said, meaning those incarcerated are sometimes exposed to the elements.

"The snow would just come directly in on our beds," Carter said. "In the summertime, it would be birds that would fly in and come and sit at the tip of your bed."

An IDOC spokesperson told ABC57 via email, "All broken windows were replaced last fall before the onset of winter. There are occasions when inmates break windows, which results in disciplinary action. Maintenance issues are addressed in the prison on a regular basis."

However, multiple sources tell ABC57 the broken windows are still a big issue, and while retrieving footage of the prison from off property for this story, some broken windows were visible.

Carter also complained about the water, saying it would appear brown and murky most mornings; a complaint echoed by others.

"Someone would wake up at 7 o'clock in the morning and run the water for almost 10 hours before we could even be able to use the water to shower in. Nobody drinks that water though, at all," Carter said. "Nobody ever drinks that water."

An IDOC spokesperson sent ABC57 the following statement: "Well water does carry tint on occasion. Were it deemed unsafe to drink, DOC would distribute bottled water to the population."

"They would bring us a cooler full of ice, and that cooler would have to last us all day until they came back the next day," Carter said.

ABC57 received a video showing brown, murky water, which IDOC refutes outright. An IDOC spokesperson instead sent ABC57 a video from April 22, showing clear water coming out of sink faucets.

IDOC also sent ABC57 the following statement: "Well water may appear discolored. It is routinely tested for safety and passed Indiana Department of Environmental Management inspection in early 2026."

However, ABC57 requested a copy of that inspection report from IDEM, and its results show that "significant deficiencies were found." In total, 22 deficiencies were listed.

The source of the brown water was identified as a buildup of iron in the water supply.

The report stated, "System has had complaints of brown/discolored water. This is because two of the three iron removal filters are not operable. The one working filter is outdated, not working correctly, and needs to be repaired/replaced. System must inspect and fix or replace the iron filter(s)."

In their response letter to IDEM, Westville staff acknowledged the complaints of brown or discolored water, and the need to repair the iron filter system. They claimed new iron filters were ordered and will arrive in the first week of May. Repairs will then be done to bring the prison up to compliance.

An IDOC spokesperson stated the water has never been deemed unsafe to drink. She also said new water filters were installed on April 22 and will be operational by mid-May.

IDEM also provided ABC57 with this factsheet regarding discolored water events.

"That's just the water, we're not speaking about the mold in the bathrooms," Dillard said.

Carter said dozens had to share the shower space.

"Up to 70 people, one shower," he said. "Rat feces and hair clogs the drain."

IDOC acknowledged the wear and tear of an aging structure in its correspondence with ABC57 but said maintenance issues are regularly addressed.

IDOC also told ABC57 that all the images sent are oldand have been circulating online for years. It also claims the images were taken in parts of the prison that are no longer in use and will ultimately be torn down. ABC57 could only find the images in online circulation dating back a few months.

ABC57 did uncover federal court filings, however, showing that inmates have been complaining about these conditions over the past few years. Inmates wrote about dirty water, mice and cockroach infestations, and broken windows, since at least 2023.

"You could write a grievance, that was not going to go nowhere," Carter said. "We filed with our proper chain of command, and these things never got done."

Carter said he understands prison is not meant to be pleasant, or even comfortable.

"We understand that we there, we committed a crime, that we have to do the time, you know? But that doesn't mean that we have to live the way that they wanted us to live," he said.

Still, some men were never meant to be there.

"To make it even more worse," Carter said, "some people are innocent in there."

Reginald "Reggie" Dillard was innocent. He was wrongfully convicted for murder in the 1998 shooting death of Christopher Thomas in Elkhart. With the help of the Notre Dame Exoneration Justice Clinic, Dillard was exonerated and freed in February after spending 27 years behind bars.

"I did six years at Westville," he said. "It's atrocious, in one word."

Dillard sat down with ABC57's Annie Kate for his first television interview since his release.

"Why are we in there?" Dillard said. "I'm not talking about a color; I'm talking about a man. Why are you still holding men in that terrible place?"

The word Dillard repeatedly used to describe the prison? Atrocious.

"What happened to rehabilitation? What happened to helping?" Dillard said. "Even if it's not rehabilitation, what happened to just being, having a human emotion? Where's your emotions? Where's your heart?"

ABC57 reached out to IDOC regarding all the concerns coming forward regarding Westville. IDOC denied an interview and an on-site tour. ABC57 has been in email correspondence with an IDOC spokesperson, but there is no working phone line for media questions and requests.

Formerly the Beatty Memorial Hospital, the campus that is now Westville has been around since 1949. It was converted into a minimum and medium security facility and has detained prisoners since 1979.

However, Westville Correctional Facility is set to be replaced by a new $1.2 billion state-of-the-art facility: the Westville State Prison. Former Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb announced the project in 2021, and ground was broken in 2023.

ABC57 was denied access to the construction site, but according to IDOC, it is on track to open in mid-2027.

IDOC sent ABC57 the following: "The new facility: 1) Has capacity for more than 4,200 inmates 2) Features a specialized mental health unit, 3) Expands educational space and vocational training opportunities, including HVAC, RV repair, automotive services, culinary arts, and food service. 4) Features dedicated classroom space for re-entry and post-incarceration employment preparation."

Loved ones of those incarcerated say that it is still too long to wait, asking ABC57, "What about now?"

ABC57's Annie Kate spoke with two women, Brooke Tusing and LaShonda Wright, who are concerned about their partners behind bars.

"What is anybody doing about the prison that they're in right now? That's 2027, that's next year," said Tusing. "The conditions that are happening now in Westville need to be handled."

"He doesn't deserve to be there. And- I mean, a crime is a crime, but the crime that he did, it's not, it's not worth [it]," said Wright.

Wright sent ABC57 a recording of a Jan. 28 phone call with incarcerated Bryant Miller, who said he was freezing inside the facility when Westville lost heat from a water main break.

"Are you trying to help rehabilitate these people, or are you putting them there to treat them like animals?" Wright said.

Tusing, speaking out on behalf of incarcerated Darrius Dillon, said she wants to see more of an uproar.

"They hear prison, so it's like, 'oh you deserve to live like that.' And you don't. You don't deserve to live like that. Like, they're still human,” Tusing said. "If you got people in there, like, make complaints. Speak up. Because nothing is going to get done if you don't speak up. And they do not-- they don't deserve to live like that. They really don't."

"To me, I think they need to stop sending people to Westville," Wright said. "Period."

Dillard lamented the lack of action done to improve conditions.

"Who has control over Westville, leaving us there like that?" Dillard said. "It's not as if you didn't know about it. It's not as if you didn't hear us hollering and getting into it, having sit-ins in the kitchen and the chow halls."

Those who spent time at Westville said they're traumatized, but holding on to what got them through.

"In my mind, the only thing that mattered was, 'I have to find the strength, the knowledge, and the will to somehow get back to my loved ones, to get back to my mother,'" Dillard said.

"I just kept God as my number one, so, that's the only way I made it through there. And my family, my support system," Carter said.

Carter was arrested in early April and is currently held at the St. Joseph County Jail on charges of Operating a Vehicle While Intoxicated and Resisting Law Enforcement. He told ABC57 on Tuesday, April 28, he plans to fight his charges.

An IDOC spokesperson told ABC57 the prison passed its 2025 audit from the American Correctional Association (ACA) with 100 percent compliance. However, the ACA never responded to ABC57's multiple emails asking for a copy of that audit and/or an interview.

IDOC is promising increased safety and security for both inmates and staff at the new facility. ABC57 is told it will have dedicated spaces for education, job training, and other rehabilitative programming, plus expanded medical and mental health spaces.

Those still incarcerated at Westville Correctional Facility are forced to wait for this new detention home. It will be more than a year before detainees can be moved.