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"An EJ approach could provide new and different tactics to prisoner advocates and their allies.  If we understand death row inmates to be a particularly vulnerable population, could the EPA itself become more involved in monitoring conditions, and if so, what are the benefits or risks of such an approach? " (219)

"Instead of environmentally invisible spaces, death row should be viewed as involuntary state homes and therefore particularly deserving of attention and regulation. " (220)

"the EPA’s unique powers can be characterized as (1) information gathering, and (2) enforcement actions.93  The EPA’s tools apply to carceral facilities as they would any other business or agency.  By statute, the EPA has the authority to enter and inspect facilities, to request information, and assist facilities in developing or remedying violations." (220) ...  "Individual EPA offices have at times attempted to examine the conditions of incarceration at several federal facilities, primarily through information gathering.  For example, under an agreement between the EPA and the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) in 2007, over a dozen facilities were audited for environmental hazards.100  These consent arrangements can promote environmental improvement by limiting the potential sanctions for discovered violations." (221)

"Through an environmental justice lens, we may see patterns that were previously hidden.  Unlike traditional prisoner advocacy tools, environmental assessments include cumulative impacts over time and in context, rather than single isolated acts." (224) ... "A pattern-based approach may help to discern the underlying factors that result in diagnoses like Glenn’s. " (225)

"An EJ approach fundamentally centers the voices of the impacted and allows for contextual reasoning.  Although carceral facilities, and death row in particular, are externally perceived as sites of punishment, incarcerated people may have a different view.  Glenn Ford’s cell, where he was confined days at a time, was his involuntary home.  Viewing jails and prisons as homes illuminates the humanity of the people who live there.  Understanding these spaces as homes underlines the need for carceral facilities to be safe and for individuals to be protected from all types of harm, environmental and otherwise.124 " (225)

"Based on Glenn Ford’s experience, the conditions on death row in Louisiana can be grouped into the following environmental hazards:  indoor air pollution, water pollution, hazardous waste, and exposure to lead." (217)

"Glenn’s story of the conditions on death row is a story about environmental justice.  His accounting forces us to see prisons as involuntary homes, where residents are held captive to environmental harms.  Yet, the experience of Glenn and others sentenced to live on death row are largely excluded from environmental justice conversations.10" (207)

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) itself has acknowledged that carceral facilities present environmental challenges.11  In 2007, the EPA noted that “[p]otential environmental hazards at federal prisons are associated with various operations such as heating and cooling, wastewater treatment, hazardous waste and trash disposal, asbestos management, drinking water supply, pesticide use, and vehicle maintenance.”12  Yet, the EPA, which is the lead federal agency for environmental justice, completely excluded jails and prisons from its 2011 planning document for addressing environmental justice through 2014.13  Similarly, the EPA’s 2020 Action Agenda for environmental justice does not even mention carceral facilities, much less recognize prisons and jails as environmentally “overburdened communities.”14 " (207)

"Data on conditions within carceral facilities is generally not available,53 and even when it is available, the data is rarely complete." (214)

The study aimed to do large scale studies on disasters relating to the exposure of a portion of the population to a toxic agent, in order to learn how to better study the long-term medical effects.

The article was published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, a well regarded journal dedicated to publishing reliable studies concerning ecological damage and effects, as well as the medical effects due to ecological factors of both natural and human creation.

The study aimed to discover new or more effective methods of studying long term effects of exposure to toxic agents. It describes the new insights including the effectiveness of simple studies, ensuring control groups, and methods to do research by using ecological aspects or involving the community in places where medical researchers are not entirely trusted.

As the disasters studied occurred many years ago and have been thoroughly studied previously this study did not present sufficiently new information to be disseminated through news reports. The study did however provide information of interest for future studies, and has been cited in other articles indicating it was used as reference in determining the effectiveness of research techniques.

The data presented could be used for medical professionals to better understand the cause of similar symptoms, or to treat patients involved in a similar incidents. The methods of research presented could be used by academics and researchers in further study.

The study does not directly address vulnerable populations, but rather focuses on including all relevant populations involved in a disaster including those reluctant to take surveys or be interviewed, or communities that are not often studies or may have had little to no exposure in order to maintain the proper control group.

The study was funded with assistance from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the Center of Economic Excellence, located in South Carolina, through a program for the Doris Meddin Levkoff Center for Medication Safety.