Debbie Holt of Centerton tells the prisons subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council in Little Rock on Thursday, June 14, 2018, that two incarcerated sons have received poor medical care behind bars.

Poorly prepared food, maggot-infested showers, fickle visitation rules and inadequate medical care were some of the complaints lawmakers heard Thursday from friends and family members of state prisoners.

While officials at the Department of Correction touted their own successes in responding to a series of headline-grabbing violent outbursts at prisons last fall, more than a dozen testimonials delivered to the legislative Charitable, Penal and Correctional Institutions Subcommittee depicted lingering issues, especially access to health care.

One mother said her diabetic son has seen his blood sugar spike from a lack of insulin, while another woman said her son died from a drug overdose that guards ignored, leaving it up to another inmate to perform CPR in an effort to save him.

State prisons director Wendy Kelley did not rebut any of the claims made against the agency she has run for more than three years -- a spokesman also declined to comment on specific accusations -- but she offered an overall defense of the way prisons were being run.Kelley said staff vacancies and violent disturbances were on the decline, and told lawmakers that she would be comfortable if she or her own family received the same medical care offered to prisoners.

The prisons' kitchens and water are inspected by the state Department of Health, Kelley said, while the units themselves must be accredited every three years by the American Correctional Association.

"When there's that kind of wide variance between what family members are experiencing from their point of view, and when [the Correction Department] has the impression that everything is going well -- and they would even be pleased with the medical care that these family members in so many cases seem to be upset about -- there needs to be more communication here," said Sen. Joyce Elliott, D-Little Rock, chairman of the subcommittee.

Elliott said most of the 15 people who spoke had contacted her or her colleagues with complaints. She said it was the first time in her memory that the panel had heard testimony from people directly connected to state prisoners.

The Department of Correction housed 15,545 inmates as of Thursday, according to department spokesman Solomon Graves.

The agency contracts with Correct Care Solutions, a company based in Nashville, Tenn., to provide health care. The total cost of the contract in fiscal 2018 is more than $58 million, according to the state's transparency database.

A company official declined to comment.

Kevin Bryant of Helena-West Helena, a former state inmate, told lawmakers the lack of treatment in prisons had caused inmates to die, and he accused guards of standing by while inmates smoke K2, a synthetic marijuana that has been linked to overdoses. He said he now has relatives in prison who have had to wait up to two weeks to get treatment after requesting sick call.

"Just because you're locked up behind the walls, doesn't mean they don't need the right treatment," Bryant said.

The food in prison, he said, was "straight slop," and the water at the East Arkansas Regional Unit "not fit to take a shower in."

Several women complained that new metal detectors and cellphone scanners were being set off frequently by their bras, adding to the frustrations of visiting loved ones. One woman said the dress code for visitors changed depending on which guard was on duty.

Another woman, Teresa Norman, said her son Darren Norman was transferred from one unit to another after filing a grievance over the lack of medical care. At his first unit, Wrightsville, Norman said her son was able to take vocational as well as college classes but was not able to continue after being moved to the North Central Unit.

"Now he has nothing," Teresa Norman said.

Both Kelley and the chairman of the Board of Corrections, Benny Magness, said they were overall pleased with services provided by Correct Care Solutions. Kelley attempted to dispel some notions, including that inmates could be denied care because they couldn't afford copays.

Inmates are charged only a $3 copay, she said, if they check themselves into sick-call. Infirmary visits initiated by staff members are not charged a copay, she said. An inability to pay does not prevent a prisoner from receiving care, Graves, the spokesman, said.

"Sometimes inmates lie to their family members," Kelley said.

Several lawmakers said they were concerned about what they heard about the prisons' health care services. Others seemed skeptical of the testimony.

"You've got to give them a listening ear, and then do your due diligence to see if there's any substance to what they say," said Rep. Kim Hammer, R-Benton.

Hammer said he would follow up with the Department of Health to determine if those officials had found any issues when inspecting prison facilities.

Elliott said she wanted to hold another meeting in which officials with Correct Care Solutions could respond.

Metro on 06/15/2018