Arkansas prison officials say they didn't know a 63-year-old fugitive was sick when they sought his return from Michigan.
But Department of Correction spokeswoman Shea Wilson told The Associated Press on Wednesday that it's not the agency's role to make judgments about whether Lester Stiggers should be brought back to the Arkansas prison system he fled in 1970.
Arkansas this year asked Michigan to return Stiggers.
Michigan is considering it, even though the state previously refused similar requests.
Stiggers was sentenced to life in prison as a teenager for killing his father in 1965.
The AP recently found Stiggers living in Warren, Mich.
He has had two strokes and takes 10 pills a day for his ailing health.
He says he doesn't understand why Arkansas wants him back.