LITTLE ROCK—An Arkansas state prison inmate who died of an apparent heart attack tested positive for having amphetamines and methamphetamine in his blood, a spokeswoman said Monday.

James H. White, 35, died Sunday at a Dumas hospital after other inmates discovered him unresponsive in an open barracks at the state’s Varner Unit, said prison spokeswoman Dina Tyler. Tyler said two inmates performed CPR on White until prison medical staff arrived at his side.

An emergency room doctor pronounced White dead a little more than an hour after he was found.

Tyler said prison guards searched the area surrounding White’s bunk and his possessions, but found no signs of illegal drugs. White suffered from a variety of medical ailments, including hepatitis, asthma and a seizure disorder, and took “many medicines as a result,” Tyler said.

The spokeswoman said it was unclear if White’s prescriptions gave a false-positive in the blood test conducted after his death.

“At this point, we don’t know if he had illegal drugs,” Tyler said. “That is a possibility, admittedly. What people do on the streets, they’ll try to do in the penitentiary as well.”

White’s body has been sent to the state Crime Laboratory in Little Rock for an autopsy. Tyler said the Arkansas State Police would investigate his death, as he had been alone before falling unresponsive.

White was serving time for a 2002 residential burglary conviction out Sebastian County, a 2004 theft conviction in Craighead County, a 2004 forgery conviction in Clay County and a 2008 theft by receiving conviction in Pope County, Tyler said. White faced a total sentence of 20 years for the convictions, she said.

White’s death comes as the state prison system faces increasing scrutiny from state lawmakers after an inmate’s near death and several recent high-profile security incidents.

In January, guards left a naked inmate covered in his own excrement for a weekend. The inmate later nearly died from septic shock. In May, a pair of convicted murderers escaped from one unit 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.

Lawmakers have called for a subpoena-powered probe into the recent incidents. A spokesman for Gov. Mike Beebe has said the governor had “full faith” in longtime prison director Larry Norris.