Opinion
Opinion By: Andy Beshear,Attorney General;James M. Herrick,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 inmate Leo Spurling attempted to initiate his appeal to this office prior to expiration of the time in which the Kentucky State Penitentiary was required to issue a written response under KRS 197.025(7), and thus failed to provide this office with a copy of said response per KRS 61.880(2)(a). Accordingly, this office is precluded from addressing the merits of his appeal under 40 KAR 1:030, Section 1. We believe that 15-ORD-007, a copy of which is attached hereto and incorporated by reference, is controlling.
Mr. Spurling's request for "copies of all documents generated by the KSP Administration in response to the 1988 prisoner escape from Kentucky State Penitentiary where I was one of escapes" [ sic ] was received by the facility on February 12, 2016. A timely response under KRS 197.025(7) was issued to Mr. Spurling on February 19, 2016, the same day he initiated an appeal to this office. Since the response was not provided with the appeal as required by KRS 61.880(2)(a), the appeal is unperfected and we are precluded from considering its merits under 40 KAR 1:030, Section 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 proceedings.