Request By:
Mr. Odis Patrick
Perry County Jailer
Perry County Courthouse
Hazard, Kentucky 41701
Opinion
Opinion By: Robert F. Stephens, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
Re: Assignment No. 2737
The Courier Journal and Louisville Times Company has appealed to the Attorney General under KRS 61.880 in regard to a request to inspect certain records in your custody made by R.G. Dunlop, a reporter for the Courier Journal. It is alleged that Mr. Dunlop presented you with a written request to inspect records on October 25, 1979 and that you have made no response to his request. A copy of the request letter has been sent to this office and it contains a list of the documents requested as follows:
"All checks written on accounts in the name of the Perry County Jail, or in your capacity as jailer, from January 1, 1978 to the present.
"All check stubs and other financial records, logs, etc., pertaining to the Perry County Jail, jail bank accounts or bank accounts in your name as jailer, for the period from January 1, 1978 to the present.
"All jail logs, records, etc. submitted to the state by the Perry County jail or you as jailer, for reimbursement for prisoner care and feeding, between January 1, 1978 and the present.
"All jail logs, records, etc. maintained and kept in the jail by you or others showing when prisoners were received at the jail, by whom they were arrested, when they were released, etc.
"Any other records pertaining to the operation and finances of the jail, income and expenses, not specifically included in the above requests."
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
As jailer of Perry County you are a local officer and therefore a "public agency" subject to the Kentucky Open Records Law, KRS 61.870-61.884.
The records listed in the request are "public records" under the Open Records Statute. None of the records listed are exempt from public inspection under KRS 61.878, the statute which lists certain types of records which are exempt except by order of the court.
You are the official custodian of the records of the jailer and of the jail and as such you have the duty to respond to a request for the inspection of your records made in writing by a written response within three days after receipt of the request. KRS 61.880(1). Your response is to be made to the requester and must state when and where the records will be made available for inspection. If you deny the request for inspection of any record, you shall include a statement of the specific exception authorizing the withholding of the record and a brief explanation of how the exception applies to the record withheld. A copy of your response denying inspection of a record must be sent to the requester and to the Attorney General. KRS 61.880(2).
When the requester appeals to the Attorney General, the Attorney General is required by KRS 61.880(2) to issue an opinion as to whether inspection of the record was properly denied. If the Attorney General holds that the record should be made available for inspection, you should make it available to the requester immediately or institute proceedings within 30 days for injunctive or declaratory relief in the circuit court. KRS 61.880(5). If the circuit court finds that the record was willfully withheld in violation of the Open Records Law, it may award all costs, including reasonable attorney's fees incurred in connection with such legal action. The court may also award the requester up to $25 for each day that he was denied the right to inspect or copy said public records. KRS 61.882(5)
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that you have unlawfully denied Mr. R.G. Dunlop inspection of the records requested and that you have violated the Open Records Law by failing to respond to the request in writing within three days.
As required by KRS 61.880(2) we are sending a copy of this opinion to the requester through his attorney, the Honorable Jon L. Fleischaker.