Request By:
Harrison Bailey, # 113353
Bell County Forestry Camp
Route 2, Box 75
Pineville, KY 40977Glenda Gambrel
Open Records Custodian
Bell County Forestry Camp
Route 2, Box 75
Pineville, KY 40977Emily Dennis
Department of Corrections
2439 Lawrenceburg Road
P.O. Box 2400
Frankfort, KY 40602-2400
Opinion
Opinion By: Gregory D. Stumbo, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
This matter having been presented to the Attorney General in an open records appeal, and the Attorney General being sufficiently advised, we find that Bell County Forestry Camp did not violate the Open Records Act in denying Harrison Bailey's January 4, 2005 request for a copy of the "master menu from Central Office for [the] quarter beginning January, 2005." It is our decision that 99-ORD-102, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is controlling. 1 See also 98-ORD-150; 00-ORD-115. At page 2 of that decision, this office concluded that a correctional facility properly relied on KRS 197.025(2) 2 in denying an inmate's request for a copy of its master menu because the menu did not "pertain [] to that individual." The language of KRS 197.025(2) has since been amended so as to place even greater restrictions on inmate access to records. KRS 197.025(2) now provides that only if the requested record "contains a specific reference" to the inmate is the facility required to disclose it, and then only if no other exemption applies to it. We therefore find that Bell County Forestry Camp did not violate the Open Records Act in denying Mr. Bailey's request.
A party aggrieved by this decision may appeal it by initiating action in the appropriate circuit court pursuant to KRS 61.880(5) and KRS 61.882. Pursuant to KRS 61.880(3), the Attorney General should be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 To the extent that 99-ORD-102 addresses the imposition of sales tax for the "sale" of copies of records, it is inapposite. Bell County Forestry Camp did not attempt to impose sales tax on Mr. Bailey and therefore did not violate the Open Records Act in this respect.
2 Incorporated into the Open Records Act by KRS 61.878(1)(l), authorizing public agencies to withhold:
Public records or information the disclosure of which is prohibited or restricted or otherwise made confidential by enactment of the General Assembly.