Request By:
Tymothy Scott, # 155021
Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex
200 Road to Justice
West Liberty, KY 41472Sharon Rose
Open Records Coordinator
Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex
200 Road to Justice
West Liberty, KY 41472Emily Dennis
Staff Attorney
Justice and Public Safety Cabinet
Office of Legal Services
125 Holmes Street, 2nd Floor
Frankfort, KY 40601
Opinion
Opinion By: Gregory D. Stumbo, Attorney General; Michelle D. Harrison, Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
At issue in this appeal is whether Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex violated the Kentucky Open Records Act in denying the request of Tymothy Scott for specified "court call tapes." On appeal, Mr. Scott contends that EKCC failed to respond upon receiving a series of related requests. Upon receiving notification of Mr. Scott's appeal from this office, Emily Dennis, Staff Attorney, Justice and Public Safety Cabinet, responded on behalf of EKCC. As observed by Ms. Dennis, the audiotape number and "start and end numbers, are reported to an inmate on [] Part II of the Disciplinary Report Form which is provided to an inmate when prison disciplinary action is taken." Requiring an inmate to provide this identifying information "enables the institution to locate the record without having to conduct research on the inmate's behalf," and prevents a situation "where one inmate requester receives copies of another inmate's records which he is not authorized to have and creates a threat to institutional security under KRS 197.025(1) and KRS 197.025(2)."
As to Mr. Scott's second request dated July 14, 2005, Ms. Dennis correctly argues that Mr. Scott "offers no proof that this request was ever submitted." In addition, Mr. Scott failed to submit his request dated July 30, 2005, in compliance with CPP 6.1. Of particular significance, Ms. Dennis advises this office that Mr. Scott submitted another request for the audiotape in question contemporaneously with initiating this appeal, "which has been fulfilled as of [August 17, 2005]." Because Mr. Scott "framed his request properly and submitted the request to the open records coordinator of EKCC," Mr. Scott "received the record responsive to his request. Attached to EKCC's supplemental response is a copy of the form to this effect authenticated by Mr. Scott and a staff witness on August 17, 2005. That being the case, any issues relative to the audiotape requested are now moot.
Pursuant to 40 KAR 1:030 Section 6: "If requested documents are made available to the complaining party after a complaint is made, the Attorney General shall decline to issue a decision in the matter." 04-ORD-106; 04-ORD-046; 03-ORD-087. In applying this mandate, the Attorney General has consistently held that "the propriety of the initial denial becomes a moot issue" if access to the public records that the requester seeks to inspect or copy is initially denied but subsequently granted. 04-ORD-046, p. 3, citing OAG 91-140. As evidenced by the foregoing, any issues relative to the audiotape requested became moot upon its release; therefore, this office must decline to issue a decision on the merits of this appeal.
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.