Legislators to probe deaths of five inmates

A legislative panel overseeing prisons and correctional institutions has scheduled a meeting for next Tuesday to follow up on reports that five prisoners died this week at the Varner Unit.

State Sen. Joyce Elliott, chairman of the legislative Subcommittee on Charitable, Penal and Correctional Institutions, announced Thursday that she had called the meeting, to be held along with the Judiciary Committees of both chambers.

The Arkansas State Police is investigating the recent deaths. An official with the Department of Correction said earlier this week that the deaths may have been caused by illicit drugs.

“The public is hearing about this constant drumbeat of unfortunate events at our state prison system,” Elliott said. “We must get answers.”

Elliott, D-Little Rock, has called several meetings of the subcommittee in the past year to address other issues at the prisons, including violent disturbances, food and water quality and complaints about poor access to health care.

State prisons director Wendy Kelley was asked to testify before the panel next week, but she will be traveling out of state and unable to attend, prisons spokesman Solomon Graves said. He declined to elaborate.

In her place, deputy directors Dale Reed and Rory Griffin will address lawmakers along with Graves, who also serves as a legislative liaison for the department.

Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane will also be available to answer questions, he said. Board of Corrections Chairman Benny Magness has also been asked to attend.

In response to several of last year’s reports of violence — which left two prisoners dead — Elliott has called for an external audit of the state’s prison system. However, the

state never arranged for such an audit.

“This is the beginning of not accepting excuses from anyone,” Elliott said Thursday.

The Arkansas prison system has about 16,000 inmates. In July, a group of lawmakers toured the Ouachita River Unit near Malvern, a 1,782bed prison that also is home to the system’s hospital services and housing for special needs inmates.

The system’s most public troubles have been at several maximum-security units in the Delta, where officials say they have trouble recruiting enough security officers.

Varner, the home of the state’s Supermax Unit, houses 1,730 inmates just down the road from the Cummins Unit, the largest state prison. Both are located about a half hour southwest of Pine Bluff.

The Department of Correction conducted a “shakedown” of the Varner prison this week in hopes of turning up drugs and other contraband. Internal records show that investigators found what they suspected to be synthetic marijuana, or K2, near one of the victims who died this week. It’s unclear what the search found.

Prisons in other states have also had issues with illegal substances. Nearly 30 people at a prison in Ohio were treated for exposure to a substance identified as a mixture of heroin and fentanyl, The Associated Press reported. In Pennsylvania, employees at 10 prisons were treated for exposure to an unknown substance, the AP said.

In Mississippi, 14 inmates have died in prison this month, although a state prison official says the number is not “out of line.” Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant told reporters Wednesday that officials will investigate each death, the AP reported.

“This week has been an anomaly,” Graves said of the deaths at Varner. “We will not accept that it will become the norm in our facility.”