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Office of the Attorney General - State of Texas John Cornyn |
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March 19, 2002 Mr. James L. Hall
OR2002-1340 Dear Mr. Hall: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 159942. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (the "department") received a request for a copy of a specified inmate's disciplinary records, admission forms to the department, and classification record. You state that you have provided copies of the Disciplinary Hearing Reports based on a release provided by the inmate in question. However, you claim that the remainder of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.134 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information.(1) Initially, we note that section 552.022 of the Government Code makes certain information expressly public and, therefore, not subject to discretionary exceptions to disclosure. Section 552.022 states in relevant part: (a) Without limiting the amount or kind of information that is public information under this chapter, the following categories of information are public information and not excepted from required disclosure under this chapter unless they are expressly confidential under other law: (1) a completed report, audit, evaluation, or investigation made of, for, or by a governmental body, except as provided by Section 552.108; . . . (17) information that is also contained in a public court record[.] Gov't Code § 552.022(a)(1), (17) (emphasis added). Included in the information submitted to this office are completed offense reports/investigations and court documents. Therefore, as prescribed by section 552.022, such information must be released to the requestor unless it is confidential under other law. Section 552.134 of the Government Code is considered "other law" that makes information confidential. Therefore, we will address your claim under section 552.134 of the Government Code. Section 552.134(a) of the Government Code provides: Except as provided by Subsection (b) or by Section 552.029 [of the Government Code], information obtained or maintained by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is excepted from [required public disclosure] if it is information about an inmate who is confined in a facility operated by or under a contract with the department. Section 552.029 of the Government Code provides: Notwithstanding Section 508.313 or 552.134, the following information about an inmate who is confined in a facility operated by or under a contract with the Texas Department of Criminal Justice is subject to required disclosure under Section 552.021: (1) the inmate's name, identification number, age, birthplace, physical description, or general state of health or the nature of an injury to or critical illness suffered by the inmate; (2) the inmate's assigned unit or the date on which the unit received the inmate, unless disclosure of the information would violate federal law relating to the confidentiality of substance abuse treatment; (3) the offense for which the inmate was convicted or the judgment and sentence for that offense; (4) the county and court in which the inmate was convicted; (5) the inmate's earliest or latest possible release dates; (6) the inmate's parole date or earliest possible parole date; (7) any prior confinement of the inmate by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice or its predecessor; or (8) basic information regarding the death of an inmate in custody, an incident involving the use of force, or an alleged crime involving the inmate. Section 552.134 is explicitly made subject to section 552.029. The requestor has asked for a copy of the Admission Summary. The responsive document contains information that must be released pursuant to section 552.029(1) through (7). Thus, the department must release the section 552.029 information in the Admission Summary. Furthermore, under section 552.029(8), basic information regarding any alleged crime involving an inmate is subject to required disclosure. The submitted information contains information regarding alleged criminal conduct. Accordingly, while the department must generally withhold the submitted information under section 552.134, it must release all basic information regarding each alleged crime pursuant to section 552.029(8). Basic information includes the time and place of the incident, names of inmates and department officials directly involved, a brief narrative of the incident, a brief description of any injuries sustained, and information regarding criminal charges or disciplinary actions filed as a result of the incident. Therefore, except for information that is subject to required disclosure pursuant to section 552.029, the remainder of the submitted information may be withheld pursuant to section 552.134 of the Government Code. This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances. This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For example, governmental bodies are prohibited from asking the attorney general to reconsider this ruling. Gov't Code § 552.301(f). If the governmental body wants to challenge this ruling, the governmental body must appeal by filing suit in Travis County within 30 calendar days. Id. § 552.324(b). In order to get the full benefit of such an appeal, the governmental body must file suit within 10 calendar days. Id. § 552.353(b)(3), (c). If the governmental body does not appeal this ruling and the governmental body does not comply with it, then both the requestor and the attorney general have the right to file suit against the governmental body to enforce this ruling. Id. § 552.321(a). If this ruling requires the governmental body to release all or part of the requested information, the governmental body is responsible for taking the next step. Based on the statute, the attorney general expects that, within 10 calendar days of this ruling, the governmental body will do one of the following three things: 1) release the public records; 2) notify the requestor of the exact day, time, and place that copies of the records will be provided or that the records can be inspected; or 3) notify the requestor of the governmental body's intent to challenge this letter ruling in court. If the governmental body fails to do one of these three things within 10 calendar days of this ruling, then the requestor should report that failure to the attorney general's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at 877/673-6839. The requestor may also file a complaint with the district or county attorney. Id. § 552.3215(e). If this ruling requires or permits the governmental body to withhold all or some of the requested information, the requestor can appeal that decision by suing the governmental body. Id. § 552.321(a); Texas Department of Public Safety v. Gilbreath, 842 S.W.2d 408,411 (Tex. App.--Austin 1992, no writ). Please remember that under the Act the release of information triggers certain procedures for costs and charges to the requestor. If records are released in compliance with this ruling, be sure that all charges for the information are at or below the legal amounts. Questions or complaints about over-charging must be directed to Hadassah Schloss at the Texas Building and Procurement Commission at 512/475-2497. If the governmental body, the requestor, or any other person has questions or comments about this ruling, they may contact our office. We note that a third party may challenge this ruling by filing suit seeking to withhold information from a requestor. Gov't Code § 552.325. Although there is no statutory deadline for contacting us, the attorney general prefers to receive any comments within 10 calendar days of the date of this ruling. Sincerely, W. Montgomery Meitler
c: Mr. Brian S. Riepen
Footnotes 1. We assume that the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). Here, we do not address any other requested records to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office. POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |