The simmering news in state government today is about tomorrow’s regularly scheduled meeting of a legislative panel reviewing prisons that so happens to coincide with wide publicity about worrisome episodes occurring in the prisons.

What is likely to happen is that legislators will ask the best questions they can of Larry Norris, the prison director, about the escape of convicted murderers in prison-made guard garments and the incredible tale of the inmate left to wallow in his own excrement for an entire weekend, and his subsequent near death.

Rep. Steve Harrelson of Texarkana is quoted today as saying several things that don’t reach a clear focus: He agrees with Gov. Mike Beebe that these incidents, while bad, are probably isolated and an unfortunate byproduct of any contemporary prison system; he believes the prisons are capable of investigating themselves and the State Police are capable of investigating more serious criminal matters; he is not yet convinced an independent outside investigation is called for, but, if the legislative hearing tomorrow doesn’t get to the clear bottom of everything, he could see the need for one and go along with one.

So I asked him who might conduct such an investigation. He said that was a good question. The State Police investigate specific criminal matters, not general agency performance. The attorney general’s office represents the prison, and thus would have a conflict. Legislative auditors are financial auditors, not performance auditors.

Most likely the Legislature would assign such an investigation to some arm of itself — perhaps the legislative Joint Performance Review Committee — and release some money to hire a little staff, including investigators and an attorney.

Arkansas has no inspector general or anything like it.

Whether this investigation would be worth the money to clear the air publicly, and whether the public would trust an investigation within the Legislature — these are good and relevant questions.