Request By:
Shirley Sharp, Administrator
Offender Records
Office of Administrative Services
Kentucky Corrections Cabinet
State Office Building
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: FREDERIC J. COWAN, ATTORNEY GENERAL; Gerard R. Gerhard, Assistant Attorney General
By letter of about March 2, 1990, Raymond O. Baker, No. 48198-L, has appealed regarding your February 26, 1990 response to his request dated February 21, 1990, received on February 22, 1990, to inspect certain records of the Kentucky Parole Board.
KRS 61.880(2) provides, in substance and in part, that the Attorney General shall, upon request of one whose request to inspect a public record has been denied, issue a written opinion stating whether the denying agency acted consistent with Open Records provisions.
FINDINGS IN BRIEF
The Kentucky Parole Board acted consistent with Open Records provisions in denying, as privileged pursuant to statute, a parole officer's "Special Report."
FACTUAL BACKGROUND
By request dated February 21, 1990, Raymond O. Baker, No. 48198-L, an inmate at the Kentucky State Reformatory at LaGrange, asked to inspect:
(1) one copy of the Document entitle (sic) "Special Report," dated 1984, which was forward (sic) to the Parole Board from the Louisville Division of Parole Office concerning Parole-Violator Raymond O. Baker (#48198-L) with new felony conviction and other information concerning Raymond O. Baker.
You responded to Mr. Baker's request by letter of February 26, 1990, advising Mr. Baker that:
Information obtained in the discharge of official duty of a probation and parole officer is exempted from inspection under KRS 61.878(1)(j), therefore, we cannot furnish you copies of any Supervision Reports unless upon a court order.
By letter dated March 1, 1990, Mr. Baker wrote you to appeal the denial cited above. By letter dated March 8, 1990, you advised Mr. Baker that such appeals were to be appealed through the Attorney General's Office.
Mr. Baker's appeal to this office followed.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
KRS 61.880(1) provides, in substance and in part, that a public agency, upon receiving a request to inspect public records, shall determine within three working days whether to comply with the request. The agency is to notify the requester, within that three day period, of its decision.
If an agency denies, in whole or in part, inspection of a record, its response must include a statement of the specific exception, among those set forth in KRS 61.878, authorizing withholding of the record, together with a brief explanation of how the exception applies to the record withheld.
A copy of the written response denying inspection is to be forwarded immediately by the agency to the Attorney General. KRS 61.880(2).
It appears that you promptly responded, in writing, to Mr. Bakers request. You cited a particular exception, from among those in KRS 61.878, as a basis for denial of inspection. You also gave a brief explanation of how such exception applied to the record(s) withheld from inspection, and forwarded a copy of your denial to the Attorney General. Accordingly, the Office of Administrative Services of the Corrections Cabinet acted consistent with KRS 61.870 to 61.884 in its denial of inspection of a parole officer's special report.
Mr. Baker sought a "Special Report" prepared by a parole officer and tendered to the Parole Board. Such report, obviously, would contain "information obtained in the discharge of official duty" by the parole officer who prepared the report. Such information is, pursuant to KRS 439.510, privileged, and, accordingly, inspection of it may be properly denied based upon KRS 61.878(1)(j), which you cited in your denial. KRS 61.878(1)(j) excepts from routine disclosure, ". . . information the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted by enactment of the general assembly." In this case the pertinent enactment is KRS 439.510. See, OAG 88-14 (copy attached). And see,
Commonwealth v. Bush, Ky., 740 S.W.2d 943 (1987).
For the reasons indicated above, we find the Kentucky Parole Board, through the Kentucky Corrections Cabinet's Office of Administrative Services, acted consistent with KRS 61.870 to 61.884, in connection with the February 26, 1990 denial of inspection of records sought by Raymond O. Baker's request dated February 22, 1990.
Raymond O. Baker, #48198-L, may have a right, pursuant to KRS 61.880(5), to appeal the findings of this opinion.
As required by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to Raymond O. Baker, #48198-L, Kentucky State Reformatory.