Opinion
Opinion By: Jack Conway, Attorney General; James M. Herrick, 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 the Kentucky State Reformatory did not violate the Open Records Act in denying inmate Leslie Lawson's August 17, 2011, request to inspect "[a]ll the orders that has [ sic ] been made in the last 90 days concerning the legal supplies for the law Library for use by the legal Aides such as typewriter rib[bo]ns -- typing paper, Stapler and Sta[p]les, pins and writing paper, white out [j]ust all the orders for the equipment used for inmates legal aides in preparing the necessary legal documents." Relying on KRS 197.025(2), 1 the Kentucky State Reformatory (KSR) explained that none of the requested records "contain a specific reference to you," and that he was therefore foreclosed from inspecting them. We agree with this analysis and find that 03-ORD-150 and 09-ORD-057 are dispositive of the issue on appeal. Copies of these open records decisions are attached and hereby adopted as the basis for our decision in the present appeal. We find no error in KSR's denial of Mr. Lawson'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.
Distributed to:
Leslie Lawson, # 122950Marc AbeloveAmy V. Barker, Esq.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 KRS 197.025(2) provides:
KRS 61.870 to 61.884 to the contrary notwithstanding, the department shall not be required to comply with a request for any record from any inmate confined in a jail or any facility or any individual on active supervision under the jurisdiction of the department, unless the request is for a record which contains a specific reference to that individual.