Request By:
Tom Campbell
Deputy Warden/Operations
Box 188
LaGrange, Kentucky 40031
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
Inmate Ed Wagner, Jr., No. 79259, has appealed to the Attorney General under KRS 61.880 your denial of inspection of records generally described as records of confiscated inmate property from September, 1981 to date. By memorandum to Mr. Wagner dated June 25, 1982, you stated that the reason the request was denied was that you had been advised by counsel that since there is litigation pending on this matter you should not provide the information requested and that you are not obliged to do so. By phone conversation with Ms. Barbara Jones, General Counsel, Department of Corrections, we have confirmed that there is a suit pending in the Franklin Circuit Court in which Ed Wagner and the Deparment of Corrections are opposing parties.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
Information about the confiscation of inmate property would generally be exempt from mandatory public disclosure because of the privacy rights of the inmates involved outweighing the need for the public to be informed. KRS 61.878(1)(a). Since there is an ongoing law suit involved in which Mr. Wagner is a party, he will probably be able to get the information he desires through discovery procedures by order of the court.
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that your denial of inspection of the requested records was permissible under the Kentucky Open Record Law, KRS 61.870-61.884.
A copy of this opinion is being sent to Mr. Wagner who has the right to challenge it in court.