Request By:
Tom Campbell
Deputy Warden/Operations
Kentucky State Reformatory
La Grange, Kentucky 40032
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Cicely D. Jaracz, Assistant Attorney General
Ed Wagner Jr. has appealed to the Attorney General your denial of his request to inspect certain documents in your possession as Deputy Warden of Operations for the Kentucky Department of Corrections at the Kentucky State Reformatory. Specifically, Mr. Wagner requested to inspect an "Order directing the staff to lock down (the) geriatrics (unit) from the 4:00 pm shift change until after the 6:00 pm count."
Your denial was based on KRS 61.878(1) (h) which exempts from public inspection except upon court order:
Preliminary recommendations, and preliminary memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that your denial was proper under Open Records law.
The Department of Corrections is a public agency as defined by KRS 61.870(1). Therefore the records prepared, owned, used, or in possession of the Department of Corrections are public records pursuant to KRS 61.870(2) and open to public inspection unless exempted under KRS 61.878.
KRS 61.878(1)(h) exempts from public inspection (except upon court order) preliminary recommendations and policies. The order that Mr. Wagner requested to inspect is an order from the warden to the staff of the Reformatory. This office has consistently held that such an "intra-agency" memorandum is exempt from public inspection pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(h).
In OAG 79-546, this office held that records of the Fayette County Detention Center were not open to public or inmate inspection if the disclosure would jeopardize institutional security or administrative order. It was stated that documents which discuss procedure involving the security of the facility can be exempted from public inspection as documents containing policy recommendations.
The document requested by Mr. Wagner appears analogous to the intra-office policy and procedures memoranda discussed in OAG 79-546. The order between the warden and his staff, being intra-agency in nature, is a statement of policy recommendations. It is thus exempt pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(h).
Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that your denial of inspection of the order directing the staff to lock down the geriatrics unit from 4 pm to 6 pm was proper under the Open Records law, KRS 61.878(1)(h).
Pursuant to KRS 61.880(2) a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requester.