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. - --- MAP posted-by: John Chase