State, Corrections Union investigate health at prisons by coal sites…
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
State, corrections union investigate health at prisons by coal sites
The union representing state corrections officers will conduct a health survey of present and former members working at SCI Fayette and three other prisons built near coal ash disposal or coal mining operations.
The Pennsylvania State Correctional Officers Association announced it will do the survey in the wake of a report by two human rights groups earlier this month that found inmates at the state prison along the Monongahela River at LaBelle, Fayette County, were experiencing high numbers of cancers and other health problems.
That report linked the inmate health issues, including cancers and respiratory, gastrointestinal, skin and thyroid problems, to the water supply and exposure to dust from a 500-acre coal combustion waste disposal site that borders the prison on two sides.
Jason Bloom, PSCOA vice president, called the inmate health report “alarming,” and, in a written statement released Friday, said the union is already aware of several cases of kidney, thyroid and breast cancers among its members at SCI Fayette.
The state Department of Corrections, in conjunction with the state Department of Health, also announced it will look at inmate health records at SCI Fayette.
Mr. Bloom said the union is involved in an arbitration case now in which it is alleging that the drinking water of the prison caused the kidney cancer of a corrections officer. The prison gets its drinking water from the Tri-County Joint Municipal Authority, which draws its water supply from the Monongahela River.
The union also will review health claim arbitration records for past and present members employed at SCI-Mahanoy and SCI-Frackville, both in Schulykill County, and SCI-Coal Township, Northumberland County.
Susan McNaughton, a spokeswoman for the state Department of Corrections, said that after the human rights groups’ report, DOC Secretary John Wetzel directed the department’s Bureau of Health Care Services to work with the state Department of Health on a review of SCI-Fayette inmate health records.
“We’re looking at all the medical records of inmates at Fayette, and that’s an ongoing review,” Ms. McNaughton said. She does not know how long it will take to complete the review.
The union already has reviewed five years of employee arbitration cases at SCI Fayette and identified two other cases involving breast and thyroid cancers that may be linked to environmental factors.
Eric Garland, a corrections officer who worked at SCI Pittsburgh until 2003 before moving to SCI Fayette, said there are more.
“I know of others who have cancer, who have died of cancer. But some are unwilling to get involved due to worries about their jobs,” said Mr. Garland, who developed hypothyroidism, an under-active thyroid condition, in 2008, five years after moving to SCI Fayette.
“I put in a union grievance in 2011 suggesting we get a union health survey going, but the human rights reports and pressure from the staff seem to have lit a fire under them,” he said. “I believe such a survey will reveal a problem. I don’t know everyone there, but just from knowing what I know, I believe a lot of people have become sick there.”
SCI Fayette has a staff of approximately 600 employees, including about 500 corrections officers.
The maximum security, 2,000-inmate prison was built in 2003 on part of an abandoned strip mine that had been used for disposal of coal waste and combustion waste, including fly ash from power plants, for 60 years.
The site contains approximately 40 million tons of coal mining waste rock and coal combustion waste, known as fly ash, and has been owned since 1997 by Matt Canestrale Construction Inc.
The report by the human rights organizations noted that many of the prisoners surveyed said the prison cells, window sills and vents were regularly covered with fine black dust, similar to coal ash. A 2006 report by the National Academy of Sciences identified 24 potentially hazardous metals in coal ash.
Associated Press
Pa. Corrections Dept. to investigate health claims
The state Department of Corrections and the union representing corrections officers are each conducting a health survey of present and former members who worked at four prisons built near coal ash disposal or coal mining sites.
The Pennsylvania State Correctional Officers Association announced the survey after two human rights groups claimed earlier this month that inmates at the State Correctional Institute Fayette were experiencing high numbers of cancers and other health problems.
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (http://bit.ly/1meouUm ) reports Wednesday that the Department of Corrections is working with the state Department of Health on a review of SCI-Fayette inmate health records.
The maximum security, 2,000-inmate prison was built in 2003 on an abandoned strip mine that was used for disposal of coal waste and fly ash from power plants for 60 years.
