Opinion
Opinion By: Andy Beshear,Attorney General;Sarah Ellen Eads Adkins,Assistant Attorney General
Open Records Decision
The issue presented in this appeal is whether Kentucky State Penitentiary ("KSP") violated the Open Records Act in its disposition of inmate Chris Hawkins' open records request for prison video footage. For the reasons stated below, we find that KSP did not violate the Act.
Appellant made a request on February 4, 2019, for "camera/ video footage from 1/17/19 from 7 am to 7:20 am." By letter dated February 8, 2018, KSP denied Appellant's request, relying on KRS 197.025(1), as incorporated into the Open Records Act via KRS 61.878(1)(l). In response to this appeal, the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet reiterated its denial pursuant to KRS 197.025(1).
This office has routinely upheld the denial of videotape surveillance footage from prisons due to security concerns. See, e.g. , 15-ORD-153 ("[T]he Attorney General affirmed a correctional facility's denial of the videotape of an altercation because "the videotape shows areas where the camera is capable of focusing and observing and blind spots outside the camera's range."); 18-ORD-169 ("[I]n accordance with past decisions, the correctional facility properly exercised its discretion in denying an inmate request for a surveillance video because disclosure 'would pose a security threat to other inmates and [facility] staff.'") KRS 197.025(1) was enacted to prohibit "inmate access to otherwise nonexempt public records where disclosure of those records is deemed to constitute a threat to security." 96-ORD-209; 11-ORD-184. We therefore find KSP did not violate the Open Records Act in denying Appellant's request for the surveillance footage.
In his appeal, Appellant also raised various allegations against prison officials and investigators. Appellant cites four cases, none of which concern the Open Records Act. These arguments are outside the scope of determining "whether the agency violated provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884." KRS 61.880(2)(a). See 01-ORD-129 (declaring that an "open records appeal to the Attorney General is not an appropriate forum in which to challenge the constitutionality of a statute"); 08-ORD-149 (concluding that "the Office of the Attorney General is not the appropriate forum for resolution of non-open records related issues"); 15-ORD-205. Accordingly, the office will not address these arguments.
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 shall be notified of any action in circuit court, but shall not be named as a party in that action or in any subsequent proceeding.