State and Franklin County officials should cough up an apology for exposing 20 juvenile prisoners to tuberculosis as a result of an inexcusable oversight.

Columbus Health Department officials tested both prisoners and Juvenile Detention Center staff members - nearly 110 people - Monday for TB. The tests were necessary because officials neglected to notice that 17-year-old prisoner Thomas Henderson had TB.

Henderson, whose May arrest warrant stated he might have TB, was arrested for not reporting to his parole officer after his time served for burglary. He now is being treated in a hospital at a judge's order.

Officials said Henderson should have been isolated from other prisoners because of his illness. Instead, he lived in close quarters with other teenagers.

The state failed Henderson by neglecting to report his documented illness. It also failed the other inmates who might have contracted a potentially fatal disease.

TB is a lung disease that mainly is transmitted through the air. Signs of TB include severe coughing, weight loss, fevers, night sweats, lethargy and loss of appetite.

While officials say Henderson apparently was not coughing in the detention center, the oversight of the illness is inexcusable. Prisoners have the right to live in a sanitary environment. And living in an area that also might be home to an infectious disease is not safe.

The state is right in testing the other inmates to see if Henderson might have infected them. If the results show they were infected, the state should pay all medical expenses to cure their illnesses.

The lesson to state officials is to read arrest warrants and court documents more closely for possible medical problems. Prisoners can have diseases more deadly than TB and officials must pay attention to prisoners who need special care.