Request By:
Charlie Dorris, # 185012
Amy V. Barker, Esq.
Ms. Kim Campbell
Opinion
Opinion By: Andy Beshear,Attorney General;James M. Herrick,Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
The question presented in this appeal is whether the Kentucky State Reformatory ("KSR") violated the Open Records Act in the disposition of inmate Charlie Dorris' March 8, 2017, request for "a copy of the additional chain of custody forms your office claims it locate [ sic ] concerning Charlie Dorris # 185012 October 2016, possession of contraband." For the reasons that follow, we find no violation of the Act.
The records requested by Mr. Dorris had been the subject of a previous request by him, which resulted in an appeal to this office that was subsequently rendered moot when KSR located the documents and provided them to Mr. Dorris. On March 10, 2017, in response to his new request, KSR again provided the chain of custody forms. In the present appeal, Mr. Dorris merely argues that the information contained in the records is inaccurate.
We find no proper basis for Mr. Dorris' appeal. In the first place, a public agency is not "required to satisfy the identical request a second time in the absence of some justification for resubmitting that request." 95-ORD-47. A person making a duplicative request must "explain the necessity of reproducing the same records which either already have been provided or have been inspected by him, such as loss or destruction of the records." 04-ORD-018. In the absence of such an explanation, KSR went beyond the requirements of the Open Records Act by satisfying this request a second time. Accordingly, we can find no violation of the Act.
This leaves only Mr. Dorris' argument that the information in the records provided to him is incorrect. Since issues not related to the Open Records Act are beyond the Attorney General's review powers under KRS 61.880, that argument cannot be considered in the context of this appeal. 99-ORD-121.
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 must be notified of any action in circuit court, but should not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceedings.