September 10, 2010

Mr. John C. West

General Counsel

TDCJ - Office of the Inspector General

4616 West Howard Lane, Suite 250

Austin, Texas 78728

OR2010-13802

Dear Mr. West:

You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 392979.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice's (the "department") Office of Inspector General (the "OIG") received a request for files pertaining to a named inmate. You state the OIG will provide some of the requested information to the requestor, with certain information redacted pursuant to section 552.147 of the Government Code and the previous determination issued to the department in Open Records Letter No. 2005-01067 (2005). ⁽¹⁾ You claim the submitted investigation files are excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101, 552.108, 552.117, 552.130, and 552.134 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.134(a) of the Government Code relates to inmates of the department and provides:

Except as provided by Subsection (b) or by Section 552.029 [of the Government Code], information obtained or maintained by the [department] 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.

Gov't Code § 552.134(a). Section 552.134 is explicitly made subject to section 552.029, which provides, in relevant part:

[n]otwithstanding [s]ection . . . 552.134, the following information about an inmate who is confined in a facility operated by or under a contract with the [department] is subject to required disclosure under Section 552.021:

. . .

(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.

Id. § 552.029(8). Upon review, we agree, in this instance, the submitted information consists of records pertaining to individuals confined as inmates in a facility operated by the department. Thus, we conclude section 552.134(a) is generally applicable to the submitted information. We note, however, the submitted files pertain to alleged crimes involving inmates. Therefore, the OIG must release basic information about the alleged crimes pursuant to section 552.029. 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. You state the OIG has released basic information about the alleged crime in file 2000-0024. Therefore, the OIG must withhold the remaining information in file 2000-0024 pursuant to section 552.134 of the Government Code. ⁽²⁾ Additionally, the OIG must release basic information about the alleged crime in file SC.14.0333.99.TL and withhold the remaining information from this file pursuant to section 552.134 of the Government Code.

This letter ruling is limited to the particular information 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 information or any other circumstances.

This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free, at (888) 672-6787.

Sincerely,

Leah B. Wingerson

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

LBW/dls

Ref: ID# 392979

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

Footnotes

1. Section 552.147(b) of the Government Code authorizes a governmental body to redact a living person's social security number from public release without the necessity of requesting a decision from this office under the Act. Open Records Letter No. 2005-01067 authorizes the department to withhold the present and former home addresses and telephone numbers, social security numbers, and family member information of its current or former employees under section 552.117(a)(3) of the Government Code, regardless of whether the current or former employee complies with section 552.1175 of the Government Code, without the necessity of requesting a decision under the Act. See Open Records Decision No. 673 (2001) (listing elements of first type of previous determination under section 552.301(a) of the Government Code).

2. As our ruling for this information is dispositive, we need not address your remaining arguments against disclosure for this information.

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