New skills

Ernest Cordova, a 24-year-old from Vernal who's in the third year of a four-year term, is taking full advantage of the program. He completed a 40-hour training course to learn the ins and outs of asbestos removal, forklift operation, job safety and other work-related skills. Others become proficient in roofing.

Cordova, who earned his high school diploma and began college while at the Gunnison prison facility, plans on using his new skills in his family's construction business after he's done serving his time. He wants to "be prepared when I hit the streets." His family was really encouraged about this, he said.

In the meantime, he's enjoying the freedom of "being able to wander around and get something done. . . . I feel like I accomplish something." He also laughed when he admitted he had to join the program to get his first tour of the Capitol.

Cordova and his fellow inmates had quite the task when it came to ridding the outside of the rotunda of asbestos. The exterior was coated with a stucco-like coating containing the dangerous substance, used in the past to waterproof and insulate.

The prisoners spent the past several months blasting a layer about 1/16th of an inch thick off the dome. To do that, they had to erect 13 levels of scaffolding around the building (Cordova jokes he'll never buy a Stairmaster) and secure work areas with airtight plastic and Visquine covering and duct tape. The containment is equipped with negative air pumps for filtering.

When entering asbestos abatement zones, prisoners wear head-to-toe airproof Tyvex sweatsuits (or "moonsuits" as some call them) and respirators. It makes for toasty working conditions, with temperatures toward the top of the work area reaching 112 degrees, and inside the suits rising to 120. They are trained about heat stroke and the importance of keeping hydrated.

"It gets real hot," Cordova said. "Sometimes you take off the suit and you're just drenched with sweat. At times it can be excruciating."

Getting rid of the asbestos involves several steps: First, a soy-based paint-thinner gel is sprayed on. Then workers scrape it off, grind the plaster surface, spray a lock-down substance to contain the asbestos fibers, moisten the waste products and double-bag them so they can safely be stored and hauled away to a special dump facility.

The area then has to be air-tested and granted clearance before crews can do whatever is planned next. Similar processes take place when they remove asbestos from insulated pipe or from tiles underneath carpets inside in places such as the Attorney General's office.