Wichita ? There is “no acceptable explanation” for the recent death of an inmate at the Wichita Work Release Facility, Kansas Department of Corrections Secretary Roger Werholtz said.

Alexis McCullough, 41, died March 26 after asking for help for hours because of shortness of breath and chest pain, witnesses said. McCullough, serving a five- to 20-year sentence for arson and robbery convictions in Seward County, died at a Wichita hospital.

In response to the death, two supervisors at the Wichita facility face disciplinary action and a nurse who was on duty at the time was barred from providing care in the state’s correctional buildings.

In a statement issued Friday, Werholtz apologized to McCullough’s family “for the role some of our staff may have played in the failure to provide timely access to appropriate medical care. There is no acceptable explanation for what occurred.”

The warden of the Wichita facility, Emmalee Conover, has proposed that the first-shift lieutenant be fired and that the second-shift master sergeant be demoted and receive a 10-day suspension without pay, the corrections department said.

The nurse, who worked for the department’s health care contract provider, Correct Care Solutions, was barred from working at the state correctional facilities. Correct Care fired the woman Friday, said Patrick Cummiskey, the company’s executive vice president.

The names of the two staff members and the nurse were not released. The warden expects to decide on discipline for the two officers soon.

McCullough’s daughter, Danielle Morris, said she was glad the department was taking action but said both supervisors should be fired. And the nurse, Morris said, shouldn’t be able to treat anybody, anywhere.

McCullough would have been released from the Wichita facility July 3, said Bill Miskell, a department spokesman.

The Kansas Bureau of Investigation is investigating; it’s required to investigate any inmate death.