Pubdate: Sun, 23 Jul 2000
Source: Houston Chronicle (TX)
Copyright: 2000 Houston Chronicle
Contact:  Viewpoints Editor, P.O. Box 4260 Houston, Texas 77210-4260
Fax: (713) 220-3575
Website: http://www.chron.com/
Forum: http://www.chron.com/content/hcitalk/index.html
Author: Thom Marshall

TDCJ'S STICKY ASBESTOS PROBLEM

Asbestos concerns about a 25-year-old, 400-pound-capacity industrial
dryer in a prison laundry are disturbing enough when considered alone.

But even more disturbing is how the Texas Department of Criminal
Justice handled questions about the asbestos.

Marta Glass, prison issues director with the local office of the
American Civil Liberties Union, made an official query earlier this
year, after she and former ACLU chapter president Weldon Hall began
receiving information from an inmate.

This fellow wrote them that he and others who work in the Clemens Unit
laundry at Brazoria have health problems and wonder if they are the
result of asbestos exposure. He also obtained copies of several
documents generated by prison officials dealing with the
dryer-asbestos situation, which he supplied to Hall and Glass.

In a reply to the questions that Glass asked, Hector Ortiz in the TDCJ
Office of Ombudsman wrote that, "On May 18, 1999, Mr. Randy Hall,
Asbestos Consultant for TDCJ, stated the parts in question do not
contain asbestos and did not pose a problem and the dryer could
continue to be used."

Asbestos confirmation

However, one of the documents provided to Glass by the inmate is a
computer printout of a message attributed to Hall that bears the May
18 date. In it, he said: "Asbestos inspection performed 05-03-99
indicates the part in question does in fact contain asbestos; it does
not pose a problem at this time."

Glass co-hosts the Friday evening Prison Show on KPFT-FM radio, where
she recently reported on this asbestos-dryer situation.

Contacted last week, Hall confirmed the dryer did contain asbestos, as
he said in the message, and he repeated that it did not pose a health
hazard.

Ortiz, in his letter to Glass, said the dryer was "removed from
service" Nov. 2, but he said that was "due to its extensive use." He
said the dryer panels were sealed and signs were posted "to discourage
use of the dryer."

But in another letter passed along by Glass, one dated Aug. 30, prison
laundry manager J.L. Cridell wrote to the manufacturer of the dryer
that, "the firewall inside the Tower of the dryer has deteriorated and
revealed asbestos insulation and the dust thereof. As you are aware,
this dust is capable of causing two types of lung cancer if inhaled."

Dated more than two months before the dryer was removed from service,
this letter to the American Laundry Machinery Industries in Cincinnati
demonstrates that prison officials did not agree about the hazard
potential of the asbestos.

Cridell expressed concerns about "asbestos dust which not only
contaminates all items that are dried; but, the customer exhaust duct
discharges into the outside atmosphere and may possibly be
contaminating the residents which live within the vicinity."

He referred in the letter to a "sealed envelope" that he said 
"contains the substance that has already been determined to be an
asbestos-based insulation."

Sealed and padlocked

An interoffice communication to Warden Terry Foster from Gary Smith, 
unit risk manager, says it was on Jan. 25 that the dryer was sealed 
with shipping tape, power was disconnected, and the control panel 
padlocked to "prevent anyone from starting up the dryer." That was 
almost three months after the date that Ortiz told Glass the dryer was 
removed from service and about 10 months after the asbestos first was 
reported.  

Also included in the documents in Glass' possession was a copied
printout of a computer message, or the last portion of a computer
message. It said: "Also for your information, the unit has received a
inquiry from ACLU of Texas concerning the asbestos in the industrial
dryer. If the word get out on other units about asbestos in these old
dryer, there will be several law suits pending. I also expect a suit
from a former laundry employee that was just recently terminated.
Thanks Gary"

A quick recap: We've got a prison official saying there was no
asbestos. We've got others saying there was. We've got officials
saying that even if there was asbestos it isn't a problem. We've got
others saying it might be.

Our public officials may be awhile getting this situation all sorted
out. They may be awhile deciding just which group of officials at what
level of officialdom should do the sorting.

But when they do, and providing word of it makes it out, I'll pass it along.
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MAP posted-by: John Chase