LITTLE ROCK – An Arkansas prison inmate’s near-death after guards left him covered in feces for a weekend did not merit discussion before the state board governing the agency, its chairman told skeptical lawmakers Thursday.

Chairman Benny Magness said prison officials handled the January incident properly and it didn’t need to be discussed publicly by the Board of Correction. Lawmakers appeared unswayed by Magness’ remarks and repeatedly asked why board minutes rarely reflect discussion of escapes or violent incidents – even though the matters routinely come up in agency e-mails that state officials seal from public view.

“Nobody seemed to think it needed to be discussed in a public forum ... rather than an informal, behind-the-scenes process that doesn’t hold any accountability or any record for the public to follow up from,” said Rep. Mark Martin, R-Prairie Grove. “It shadows you from actually being held accountable by this body or any other body.”

Afterward, Magness told reporters he and other board members remained accountable to Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe and had made measurable accomplishments over the last decade. However, he acknowledged he didn’t know that one of the guards fired over the inmate’s near death in January had previously been fired over lying about taking stolen Hot Pockets microwavable sandwiches.

“What you brought to (my) attention is something we need to look at as a board,” Magness told a reporter.

In January, guards at the state’s Tucker Unit left a naked inmate covered in his own excrement for a weekend. Guards found the inmate unconscious the following Monday; the man nearly died from septic shock. An investigation into the incident also uncovered allegations that guards received lap dances from a nurse while on duty. Seventeen employees were disciplined in that incident, including two guards who were fired.

Two convicted murderers escaped the state’s Cummins Unit in late May after donning guard uniforms and walking out the front doors. Guards also recently shot to death a man they said tried to flee a contraband checkpoint outside the Tucker prison.

Though prison officials announced the escape and shooting, news of the inmate’s near death only surfaced publicly in late June after a story by The Associated Press. State Sen. Bobby Glover, D-Carlisle, questioned the delay.

Lawmakers “could not understand why that was kept so quiet for three or four months, however long it was, before it actually surfaced,” Glover said.

Rep. Rick Saunders, D-Hot Springs, defended the prison board’s actions, saying federal authorities oversee some prison activities and discussing personnel matters in the open could leave members open to lawsuits. However, Sen. Kim Hendren, R-Gravette, became angry after hearing that.

“Brother, just because we take a citizen and put them in jail, (they) do not cease to be citizens,” Hendren said. “Somebody up here has got to speak up for that guy. Just because you go to prison, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a voice down here at this table.”

Lawmakers also questioned why board minutes often don’t reflect any discussion of problems at the prison. Magness said the board’s secretary only writes up votes the members make. However, prison protocols calls for board members and other ranking prison officials to receive e-mail reports on such incidents.

Such records typically are public under Arkansas state law, meaning the public can see them. However, the state prison system denied an AP request to see them.

Asked Thursday if such e-mails were public records, longtime prison director Larry Norris said they contained “inmate’s names” and couldn’t be released. After the meeting, Rep. Steve Harrelson, D-Texarkana, questioned why the inmates names simply couldn’t be redacted so the e-mails could be released.