By Charlie Frago
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Department of Correction Director Larry Norris told lawmakers Tuesday that he’s “embarrassed” about some things that have happened at state prisons since January.
Among those are the escape of two murderers, the fatal shooting of a parolee at a prison checkpoint and an inmate who nearly died after being left in his own feces while correction officers received a lap dance from a prison nurse.
Saying he wasn’t making excuses, Norris defended his agency and the Corrections Board as doing a good job in a “problem business.” Some lawmakers seemed to agree.
“Keep up the good work,” said Rep. Mike Patterson, DPiggott.
Others had harsh words for the Department of Correction officials.
Rep. Davy Carter, R-Cabot, criticized David White, the warden of the Maximum Security Unit at the Tucker prison. Carter said White “either turned a blind eye or was just being lazy” in not knowing that a lieutenant and sergeant were having a lap dance from a nurse when an inmate under their supervision nearly died of septic shock in January.
Norris later fired the sergeant and the lieutenant. The nurse was a contract employee who no longer works at the prison.
While generally supportive of Norris’ explanations, the chairman of a legislative subcommittee said Tuesday that he’s committed to lawmakers having more oversight of state prisons.
“We’re going to be a very, very active committee,” said Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, co-chairman of the Charitable, Penal and Correctional Institutions Subcommittee of the Legislative Council.
Other lawmakers were upset that chairman of the Board of Corrections Benny Magness didn’t appear for the meeting and said they have been kept in the dark about prison abuses. They proposed referring the prison matter to the Joint Performance Review Committee - which has subpoena powers - for further scrutiny.
Several of the more than 30 state representatives and senators at the meeting - nearly a third of the 135-member General Assembly - said they had more questions and wanted to examine the matter further.
“It’s going to be a long process,” said Rep. Steve Harrelson, D-Texarkana.
Harrelson said he supports the idea of Sen. Steve Faris, DCentral, to send the matter to the Joint Performance Review Committee.
No motion was made on referring the matter to that committee, however.
Magness of Gassville deserves another opportunity to appear before the subcommittee, Glover said, adding that he was disturbed about the problems and hinted at future legislative action.
When Norris said his agency hadn’t “reported to the Legislature on a regular basis,” Glover responded: “Well, we might change that soon.” Currently, the seven-member Board of Corrections supervises the Correction Department, the Department of Community Correction and the Arkansas Board of Parole. The members are appointed by the governor. They approve agency rules and funding requests, and have sole authority to hire and fire the director, among other oversight powers.
Four Corrections Board members attended the meeting: Vice Chairman Mary Parker, Leroy Brownlee of Little Rock, Ken Jones of El Dorado and Alonza Jiles of Warm Springs.
Magness was unable to attend Tuesday’s meeting because he was in court on a business-related matter, said Parker of Little Rock.
For more than an hour, lawmakers asked Norris about this year’s problems and pressed him to explain why they occurred.
“Any policy is only as good as its weakest link,” Norris said. He said relatively low pay and high stress make prison work unattractive to many people, creating a limited labor pool.
“You get what you pay for,” he said of his agency’s approximately 2,800 correctional officers and supervisors.
Although pay differs depending on the danger of the assignment, rookie correctional officers earn from the mid-$20,000s to mid-$30,000s.
Norris also outlined steps he has taken to prevent repeats of the problems.
The department will install equipment in prisons to scan fingerprints of employees, heighten security measures in prison parking lots and create procedures to make sure inmates in isolation are responsive when staff members check on them, among other efforts, Norris told lawmakers.
But he emphasized that he views the problems as isolated and not as evidence of a systemic breakdown.
The department has disciplined seven employees for the May 29 escape, firing five. The escapees, Calvin Adams, 39, and Jeffrey Grinder, 32, were caught in upstate New York, four days after their escape from Arkansas’ Cummins Unit.
Three Pulaski County residents accused of aiding Adams and Grinder in their escape have been arrested.
Norris said part of Grinder’s and Adams’ plot was to persuade another inmate to talk the three Pulaski County residents into leaving a car in the parking lot of the Lincoln County prison.
Norris said Grinder had worked in a garment factory on prison grounds last year and stole two correctional officer uniforms, which he hid on prison property. Other inmates made belts and other equipment in the prison craft shop to help the two convicts pass as prison employees.
“I have to say: They looked like correctional officers. They looked good,” Norris said.
Prosecutors are still considering charges in the Tucker Max checkpoint fatal shooting, and Norris declined to comment about the investigation. A 34-year-old sergeant who fired the shot is on administrative leave.
Lester H. McGowan, 42, a parole absconder who had been incarcerated several times, was fatally shot in June after he attempted to flee the checkpoint. The officer shot him in the back as he drove his car toward the Jefferson County prison where McGowan’s brother was an inmate.
McGowan had been most recently convicted of robbery and forgery in 2005 and was given a 10-year sentence. He was released from prison in February.
Many lawmakers emphasized that they weren’t holding Norris personally responsible for his department’s problems and reserved their sharpest criticism for the Corrections Board, which hadn’t discussed any of the problems in an open meeting.
Parker said the board - unlike some other state commissions that conduct most of their business in monthly meetings - is “a working board” that is in almost daily contact with Norris.
She said board members would consider providing the General Assembly a “synopsis” of the most serious prison problems, and she had no problem meeting with lawmakers at any time.
“We don’t need to be subpoenaed,” she said after the meeting.
Currently, prison officials alert Gov. Mike Beebe and the board when problems of “magnitude” arise, Norris said.
Norris, 60, who has worked in Arkansas prisons for 38 years and has led the agency since December 1993, told reporters after his testimony that he has no plans to retire or resign.
Norris said he has talked to members of Beebe’s staff, but has not had a conversation with the governor.
Beebe said Tuesday that he has confidence in Norris’ leadership and that it was good to have the meeting about prisons to “get it all aired.” He said it was his idea that Norris testify.
“All the information needs to be out there,” Beebe said. “You need to get as many eyes looking at it as you can.” Beebe has said he sees no reason why Norris shouldn’t stay on as director.
“So far, I’ve been pleased with his response,” Beebe said. “They’ve acted quickly and decisively. But that’s another reason to have the hearing to find out if they’ve done everything they should do.” Parker said the board hasn’t discussed dismissing Norris.
Former Republican U.S. Congressman Asa Hutchinson, who lost to Beebe in the 2006 governor’s election, called last week for an independent investigation of Arkansas’ prisons.
Hutchinson said he thinks the state “needs a new set of eyes” on the challenges facing state prisons “with a view to some of the national reform efforts.” Beebe said he had no comment about Hutchinson’s statements.
Legislators need to be more honest about their own culpability in the problems facing state prisons, said Sen. Jim Luker, D-Wynne.
In the past, the state prison system, which holds about 15,000 inmates in 20 facilities, hasn’t received adequate funding and attention, he said.
Maybe lawmakers need to “do a little soul-searching” of their own, Luker said.
Norris said he welcomes more legislative attention to prisons and defended his record.
More legislative involvement will only help his agency, he told reporters after his testimony.
He told the committee that nearly all of his employees are hardworking and honest. And he described his job as: “I’m just a servant of the people, doing the Lord’s work.” Information for this article was contributed by Seth Blomeley of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Copyright 2009 Little Rock Newspapers, Inc.