Request By:
Tom Campbell
Deputy Warden/Operations
Kentucky State Reformatory
La Grange, Kentucky 40032
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Cicely D. Jaracz, Assistant Attorney General
Phillip Johnson has appealed to the Attorney General your denial of his request to inspect certain documents in your possession as Deputy Warden of Operations for the Kentucky Department of Corrections at the Kentucky State Reformatory. Specifically, Mr. Johnson requested to inspect "purchase orders or recommendations to purchase motors for the exhaust system in the geriatrics unit."
Your denial was based on KRS 61.878(1)(h) which exempts from public inspection except upon court order:
(h) Preliminary recommendations, and preliminary memoranda in which opinions are expressed or policies formulated or recommended.
OPINION OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
It is the opinion of the Attorney General that your denial was proper under Open Records law.
The Department of Corrections is a public agency as defined by KRS 61.870(1). Therefore the records prepared, owned, used, or in possession of the Department of Corrections are public records pursuant to KRS 61.870(2) and open to public inspection unless exempted under KRS 61.878.
KRS 61.878(1)(h) specifically exempts from public inspection "preliminary recommendations" which is essentially what Mr. Johnson requested to inspect. As long as no final action has been taken, the preliminary memoranda which express opinions, recommendations, or policies are exempt from public inspection.
Therefore, it is the opinion of this office that inspection was properly denied pursuant to KRS 61.878(1)(h).
As directed by statute, a copy of this opinion is being sent to the requester who may initiate further proceedings pursuant to KRS 61.880.