Opinion
Opinion By: Jack Conway, 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 Henderson County Detention Center did not violate the Open Records Act in denying Tony Johnson's June 16, 2009, request for records "showing when and where [four named individuals] were at in your facility . . . around mid-March thru end of April, 2006." In support of the denial of Mr. Johnson's request, the Detention Center invoked KRS 197.025(2), authorizing nondisclosure of "any record" requested by an inmate "unless the request is for a record which contains a specific reference to that individual." We affirm this denial and find that 03-ORD-074, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is directly controlling. At page 4 of that decision, we emphasized that regardless of the intended use of the requested records, "the net effect of [KRS 197.025(2) was] to curtail the inmate's right of access to records maintained by" correctional facilities and jails. The Detention Center's actions were, therefore, entirely consistent with the provisions of the Open Records Act.
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.
Distributed to:
Tony Johnson, #07918-028Cathy StebbinsSteven R. Gold