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 Eastern Kentucky Correctional Complex did not violate the Open Records Act in the manner alleged by inmate requester Jeffery Carpenter in his December 14, 2012, open record appeal or in any other manner. The record on appeal is devoid of proof that EKCC failed to respond to a November 22, 2011, request Mr. Carpenter allegedly submitted for a "copy of [the] inmate legal mail log showing any legal mail [he] received from Logan Circuit Court from September 29, 2011, to November 22, 2011." EKCC's attempts to fulfill his November 23 request for the same records, and to satisfy any remaining claim relating to that request, were sufficient under the Act.
In his letter of appeal, Mr. Carpenter complained that he received no response to his request for the legal mail log. He explained that he needed the log "to prove to the Court of Appeals the Logan Circuit Court entered an Order Dismissing [his] Motion for the Expungement of Records on September 29, 2011, and failed to serve [him] a copy of that order." EKCC acknowledged receipt of a "substantially similar request dated November 23," and received on November 28, but denied receipt of the November 22 request that gave rise to this appeal. Counsel for EKCC asserted that the facility released "thirteen pieces of legal mail and the records for the log entries with a specific reference to him for the requested time period" to Mr. Carpenter within five business days of the November 28 receipt of his November 23 request. Continuing, counsel explained that "[a] review of the mail log entries pertaining to Inmate Carpenter for the time period requested does not include mail from the Logan Circuit Court, so the log entry does not exist . . . . [since] an entry is not created if legal mail is not received."
In subsequent correspondence, Mr. Carpenter disputed receipt of any response to his request. 1 To resolve this dispute, EKCC "offered in person to Inmate Carpenter the documents that were previously sent to him through institutional mail. " Mr. Carpenter refused to acknowledge receipt of the records, insisting that "he should have received a statement indicating the document from Logan Circuit Court did not exist." As noted above, this statement appeared in EKCC's supplemental response to his open records appeal and again in a January 30 memorandum from Offender Information Specialist Sonya Wright to Mr. Carpenter. The Open Records Act requires nothing more.
Our review of the record on appeal confirms that Mr. Carpenter is attempting to "prove a negative" by means of the Open Records Act. The "negative" he wishes to prove is the nonreceipt of an order dismissing his motion to expunge from the Logan Circuit Court. He framed his request in such a way as to elicit a particular negative response from EKCC. Operating in good faith, and apparently unaware of his hidden agenda, EKCC attempted to fulfill his request by producing the records identified in his request not once but twice. This office is not inclined to assign error to EKCC for failing to issue a response that proved the desired negative. The absence of an entry reflecting Mr. Carpenter's receipt of legal mail from the Logan Circuit Court proved his point. The records spoke for themselves.
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:
Jeffery Carpenter, # 95017Sonya WrightAmy V. Barker
Footnotes
Footnotes