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Opinion

Opinion By: Jack ConwayAttorney General;James M. HerrickAssistant 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 Blackburn Correctional Complex did not violate the Open Records Act in denying inmate Micheal Whitehead's request, dated October 13 and received October 20, 2014, for "a copy of the July 17, 2014 memorandum issued by Deputy Warden Brandy Harm regarding changes to CPP 9.6." Relying on KRS 197.025(2), 1 Offender Records Supervisor Susan Wilhoit-Oliver explained that since the requested record did not contain a specific reference to Mr. Whitehead, he was not entitled to a copy of it. 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 Blackburn's denial of Mr. Whitehead'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 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.

LLM Summary
The Attorney General's decision finds that the Blackburn Correctional Complex did not violate the Open Records Act by denying inmate Micheal Whitehead's request for a specific memorandum, as the memorandum did not contain a specific reference to him. This decision follows the reasoning and conclusions of previous open records decisions 03-ORD-150 and 09-ORD-057, which likely addressed similar legal issues.
Disclaimer:
The Sunshine Law Library is not exhaustive and may contain errors from source documents or the import process. Nothing on this website should be taken as legal advice. It is always best to consult with primary sources and appropriate counsel before taking any action.
Requested By:
Micheal Whitehead
Agency:
Blackburn Correctional Complex
Type:
Open Records Decision
Lexis Citation:
2014 Ky. AG LEXIS 235
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