Six Ohio inmates brought a civil rights suit alleging that they were exposed to impermissible levels of asbestos and environmental tobacco smoke while incarcerated.  A unanimous panel of the Sixth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on February 15, 1996 dismissed the suit.  The Court ruled that the inmates must prove that the defendants were deliberately indifferent in subjecting them to unconstitutional conditions of confinement.  Allowing the defendants’ motion for summary judgment, the Court found no showing that the state officials failed to take reasonable steps to abate a known, substantial danger of serious harm or that the officials acted with a culpable state of mind.

77 F.3d 482, 1996 U.S. App. LEXIS 5517, No. 95-3549, (6th Cir. 1996).