Request By:
[NO REQUESTBY IN ORIGINAL]
Opinion
Opinion By: Albert B. Chandler III, Attorney General; Amye L. Bensenhaver, Assistant 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 Department of Corrections did not violate the Open Records Act in its response to Donald Kenneth Hardrick's request for Department records reflecting reimbursement for medical services he received while he was incarcerated in the Henderson County Jail. We believe that 94-ORD-140, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is dispositive of the issue of the agency's duties under KRS 61.872(4) when the requested records are not in its custody or control. The Department of Corrections discharged this duty by notifying Mr. Hardrick that the records identified in his request were not in its custody or control, explaining why this is so, and directing him to the custodian of the records, in this case, the Henderson County Jail. The Open Records Act does not require more. 1
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 The Department has no record of having ever received Mr. Hardrick's December 1, 1999, request. We therefore make no finding as to any procedural irregularities associated with its belated response.