In the Varner Unit in Arkansas, guard Danita Williams, was fired in July. A letter written by the warden claimed she helped an unnamed death-row inmate trade crackers in a laundry bag for soup from another prisoner. (maybe the guy just didn’t like crackers and wanted a soup?) (and I wonder why the guard is named but the death-row inmate isn’t?)

After receiving the anonymous letter, an internal investigation uncovered allegations that a romantic relationship between Williams and the inmate began at least in April as she guarded him during the graveyard shift.

An anonymous letter reached chief prison deputy director Ray Hobbs on May 29 and another, more detailed letter surfaced in June, alleging Williams had an inappropriate relationship with the inmate.

The second letter claimed the death-row inmate performed a sex act with Williams during the April 28 night shift.

The detailed letter alleged other guards delivered love letters from the inmate to Williams, that Williams personally delivered a package to him and that she ferried a pillow case carrying goods from the commissary for the inmate. The anonymous tipster also told officials that surveillance camera footage would confirm the allegations.

The internal affairs report by prison investigator Ronald Vilches shows a prison lieutenant noticed Williams’ request to guard the inmate’s area April 23. Vilches wrote that Williams “went straight” to the inmate’s cell. The lieutenant also said Williams admitted passing the laundry bag full of goods to another inmate.

During the investigation, Vilches wrote that another official told him Williams already was subject to disciplinary action over passing goods among inmates. However, Vilches said he found no paper record of any action; instead she apparently received only a verbal reprimand.

Williams, an entry-level guard, was fired on July 7.

The spokeswoman said investigators uncovered no evidence to substantiate the allegations of a sex act on death row, a three-level cell block where inmates remain housed in solitary cells behind solid metal doors.

No other guards or supervisors were disciplined over that alleged incident.

Security on death row has been a problem in the past. In 1995, when the state’s Tucker Unit held death-row inmates, a State Police investigation found a massive smuggling operation. State troopers found contraband including a priest’s cassock, weapons, gunpowder, syringes and a greeting card with marijuana leaves on it. The investigation began after the discovery of a hole between two cells, which an inmate allegedly used to sexually assault another inmate.

Prison officials moved death row to a maximum-security lockup at the Varner Unit in 2003.

Forty men await lethal injection for killings dating as far back as 1989. The state’s death chamber remains nearby at the Cummins Unit.

State lawmakers visited the Cummins Unit last week as part of their inquiry into complacency among guards at the 20-prison system after the recent incidents. Sen. Bobby Glover, who heads a legislative panel overseeing the prison, questioned why prison administrators didn’t quickly inform legislators about the incidents.

“Things like this happen and they don’t reveal it and they keep it to themselves,” said Glover, D-Carlisle. “Then you begin to wonder what other incidents have occurred that they didn’t report to the public and the governor.”

Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, who has been critical of the board and the Department of Correction’s director, said he wasn’t surprised by the latest report.

“If the Department of Correction wants the Legislature and the public to trust them, then they need to act in a manner that’s appropriate for us to give them that trust,” Burris said. “So far they haven’t.”