LITTLE ROCK—Arkansas lawmakers called for a subpoena-powered inquiry in the state prison system Tuesday, decrying guards’ lapses that allowed two convicted murderers to escape and caused an inmate’s near death.

Longtime state prison director Larry Norris told reporters he had no plans to resign or retire over the problems. Norris blamed “complacency” and guards’ dereliction of duty for the lapses.

Republican lawmakers placed the blame on the seven-member board that oversees the prison system, saying it never formally addressed the problems in its public meetings. Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, who is expected to run for re-election in 2010, oversees appointments to the board.

Norris appeared Tuesday before a legislative panel that oversees the state prison system, which includes 15,000 inmates and 20 facilities spread across the state. Democratic Sen. Bobby Glover, who called the meeting to discuss the state’s rising prison population, warned Norris that the panel would start a thorough inquiry of the system.

“I can’t speak for the governor, but I think I can tell you that he’s not going to stand for his administration to get a black eye over the Department of Correction,” said Glover, of Carlisle. “Those of us as legislators, we’re going to do everything we can to make sure that doesn’t occur.”

Sen. Steve Faris, D-Malvern, called for the panel to turn over the prison inquiry to a legislative committee with subpoena power — a rare step that gives lawmakers the power to compel witnesses to appear. The state Senate last used its subpoena power in 2008 to request records during an investigation into allegations of voter fraud in St. Francis County.

Rep. Steve Harrelson, the Democratic majority leader, agreed a subpoena-powered committee should look at the state prisons.

“We need to determine whether or not the department as a whole needs to develop new policies to protect the people of Arkansas,” said Harrelson, D-Texarkana.

Among recent incidents, guards at the state’s maximum-security Tucker Unit left a naked inmate covered in his own excrement for a weekend in January. The inmate nearly died from septic shock. An investigation into the incident uncovered allegations that guards received lap dances from a nurse while on duty.

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

In the Tucker inmate’s near death, Norris said prison medical staff checked on the man Saturday and Sunday, but guards and others did nothing to clean him or his cell. The Monday dayshift found him unconscious and near death.

Seventeen employees were disciplined in that incident, including two guards who were fired, Norris said. New rules have been established to ensure guards check on inmates, he said.

“I’m embarrassed it happened,” Norris said. “We believe that (with) the policies in place — that (if) the staff do what they’re supposed to do — this won’t and should not happen again.”

One of the inmates who escaped in May used his job as a maintenance trusty to ferry guard uniforms made at the prison back to his cell in a cart, Norris said. The escaped convicts also paid inmates who made the guards’ leather belts to give them some, Norris said.

He acknowledged guards failed to search the inmate’s cart as they should have and the person manning the prison’s exit should have been more watchful.

“The truth of the matter is we just got beat that day,” Norris said.

He declined to discuss the fatal shooting at Tucker, saying a prosecutor was reviewing documents from an Arkansas State Police investigation.

Republican lawmakers at the meeting, led by Rep. Davy Carter of Cabot, asked why the state Board of Corrections never discussed any of the problems at its meetings.

“It frankly just looks like nobody’s watching the hen house here,” Carter said.

Norris later said he spoke one-on-one with board members, but never in formal meetings open to the public.

Mary Parker, the board’s vice chairwoman, defended the one-on-one talks, saying the prison system would be impossible to manage otherwise. Parker told reporters an incident like the inmate’s near death “doesn’t necessarily need to be discussed publicly,” as Norris handles staffing issues at the prison.

“I don’t go in and tell Larry: ’You need to fire this man, you need to reprimand this man.’ That’s his job,” Parker said.

All lawmakers began their remarks by voicing their support for Norris, who has served as prison director since 1993 under Democratic and Republican administrations. Some disagreed with criticism of the prison system, with one dismissing concerns over the near death at Tucker.

“It just seems to me on this particular issue we’re making a mountain out of a mole hill,” said Rep. Ray Kidd, D-Jonesboro.

For his part, Norris recalled an explanation he gave legislators nearly 15 years earlier when State Police troopers found contraband, including gunpowder, on death row.

“In 1995, I told this group and our board and the governor then that this is a problem business,” he said. “It was a problem business in 1995 and it is in 2009 and it will be 2025.”