Opinion
Opinion By: Andy Beshear,Attorney General;Sarah Ellen Eads Adkins,Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
The issue presented in this appeal is whether Northpoint Training Center (NTC) violated an open records request when it did not provide the requested records because the inmate's account did not contain sufficient funds to pay for copies of the requested records. For the reasons stated below, we find that NTC did not violate the open records act.
On August 20, 2018, Appellant, an inmate at NTC, requested "a full copy of all liens" from October 2016 through August 2018. NTC received the request on August 21, 2018. NTC sent a letter to Appellant on August 28, 2018, informing him that his records were not yet available. NTC actually responded on August 29, 2018, that there was not enough money in Appellant's inmate account to cover the cost of copying the requested records.
As a preliminary matter, KRS 197.025(7) requires NTC to respond "within five (5) days after receipt of the request, excepting Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays." Appellant did not make a specific complaint that NTC's response on August 29 was untimely, but we note that the response was not issued within five business days after receipt. The late response constitutes a procedural violation by NTC. We remind NTC that the procedural requirements of the Act "are not mere formalities, but are an essential part of the prompt and orderly processing of an open records request." 93-ORD-125, p. 5. Although NTC acknowledges that its response was late, we urge NTC to review the cited provision to insure that future responses conform to the Open Records Act.
Although we find that NTC's initial response was procedurally deficient, we affirm NTC's response denying Appellant's requests for institutional records
This office has consistently recognized that the Department of Corrections and its institutions may implement a policy that adheres to KRS 61.874(1), which permits a custodian of records to require advance payment of a prescribed fee for copies of requested records. See 17-ORD-098, 16-ORD-022, 11-ORD-119, 97-ORD-131, 95-ORD-105. An institution may deny an inmate's request for copies of records if an inmate does not have adequate funds to cover reproduction costs in his inmate account. 17-ORD-098. These decisions followed the Kentucky Court of Appeals' holding in Friend v. Rees, 696 S.W.2d 325, 326 (Ky. App. 1985), that an inmate is entitled to receive a copy of a record only after "complying with the reasonable charge of reproduction."
Appellant does not present any argument to dispute application of this law to the case at hand, but instead merely reiterates that he needs the copies of his records for the purposes of an appeal to the Supreme Court. However, NTC followed the guidelines laid out in KRS 61.874(1) and, because inmate did not have sufficient funds in his account for the requested records, NTC appropriately denied the request.
A party aggrieved by this decision shall 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 shall be notified of any action in circuit court, but shall not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.