A rash of injuries to state prison employees requires serious examination.

There are a lot of public employees claiming on-the-job injuries at a downstate prison and mental hospital, so many that the state has launched both a criminal and civil investigation to find out what's going on.

Not only are the public employees claiming injury and receiving substantial payments as compensation – $10 million since Jan. 1, 2008, to more than 230 Menard prison employees – but there has been a similar rash of injuries, claims and payments to the arbitrators who preside at workers' compensation hearings.

It's reported that eight of the state's 32 arbitrators have filed for or received workers' compensation awards. One arbitrator's claim, which stemmed from a fall, resulted in a nearly $49,000 settlement – all handled by mail.

This may all be on the up and up. But the numbers reported are so strikingly disproportionate that state officials have launched at least two investigations. Meanwhile, state legislators are seeking a third conducted by Auditor General William Holland to find out what's going on.

None of this would be public except for a series of investigative reports by the Belleville News-Democrat. The newspaper conducted an in-depth examination of the workers' compensation program and found that the number of claims generated from the Menard Correctional Center and the Chester Mental Health Center. Further, the claims, which are hearing in a meeting room at a restaurant in the small town – population 311 of Whittington – are far out of proportion to those heard in larger communities with greater number of state employees.

The newspaper also discovered that at least one arbitrator went out of her way to ensure that the news media not become aware of one particularly controversial workers' compensation claim.

The case involved Illinois State Trooper Matt Mitchell, who was injured when the squad car he was driving 126 miles per hour struck another vehicle and killed two young girls, Kelli and Jessica Uhl. Mitchell is seeking compensation for his injuries in the crash. Arbitrator Jennifer Teague wrote in an e-mail that she intended to hold the hearing "on the sly with no press."

All this, of course, may be above-board. Prison employees claimed carpal tunnel injuries caused by unlocking cells and operating the antiquated prison's security systems. Obviously, working in a prison is not easy, but the circumstances look suspicious.

That's why the state must conduct a thorough inquiry and make the findings public.