Opinion
Opinion By: Daniel Cameron, Attorney General; Marc Manley, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
Inmate Torrey Cross ("Appellant") submitted a request for copies of all photographs he has received or taken since 2017, which are allegedly stored in his JPay account. The Penitentiary timely denied the request, and this appeal followed.
In its initial response to the Appellant, the Penitentiary stated that the JPay service is provided by an outside vendor and therefore the Penitentiary does not have control and custody of such records pursuant to KRS 61.872(4). On appeal, however, the Penitentiary now asserts that the emails are not "public records" under KRS 61.870(2), that staff cannot access such records that are older than six months, and that the photographs do not contain a specific reference to the inmate pursuant to 61.878(1)(l) and 197.025.
This Office has previously held that emails on the JPay server are not "public records" as defined by the KRS 61.870(2), unless such emails are prepared by, or are being used by the public agency. See 20-ORD-109. Here, the Penitentiary neither sent nor received the requested photographs, nor is there any allegation that the Penitentiary has used, or is using, the requested photographs for any governmental purpose. Therefore, the requested photographs are not "public records" as defined by the Act. 1Because this Office finds that the requested photographs are not "public records" under KRS 61.870(2), this Office declines to address the Penitentiary's alternative arguments in support of its denial.
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 shall be notified of any action in circuit court, but shall not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceedings.
Footnotes
Footnotes
1 Because the requested photographs are not "public records," the Penitentiary did not violate the Act in denying inspection of these photographs by Appellant.