The Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) has ordered abatement work at two correctional facilities when an audit turned up positive for asbestos in various buildings. The $170,000 assessment of pipe insulation, ceiling material, floor tile and other products likely to contain asbestos was in response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s report documenting past mishandlings of asbestos removal.

Another $75,000 has now been reallocated for abatement of pipe wrapping and ceiling tile at the Lansing and Winfield prisons, although the KDOC contends that government regulations don’t require immediate removal of asbestos found in other prison areas.

This limited clean-up has not satisfied Jane Carter, Executive Director of the 10,000-member Kansas Organization of State Employees, which represents state corrections officers. "Why wait until something bad happens and someone is exposed?" she asks rhetorically.

Prolonged exposure to asbestos has been proven to cause such deadly diseases as asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, a rare and incurable cancer of the lining of the chest and abdomen. There are continued worries that toxic asbestos fibers may be released during any remodeling or construction on the jails. These fibers can be easily inhaled by workers and inmates, making them prime candidates for the development of pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the lining of the lungs known as the pleura. Mesothelioma treatment efforts are only palliative, as there is no cure for this illness.

Carter believes that the state should develop a comprehensive plan for ridding correctional institutions of asbestos. After all, there is no safe level of asbestos.

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