February 7, 2011

Ms. Patricia Fleming

Assistant General Counsel

Texas Department of Criminal Justice

Office of the General Counsel

P.O. Box 4004

Huntsville, Texas 77342-4004

OR2011-01832

Dear Ms. Fleming:

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# 408523.

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (the "department") received a request for all parole records for a named individual. You state you have released some of the requested information. You claim the submitted information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Initially, we note, and you acknowledge, the department has not complied with the time periods prescribed by section 552.301 of the Government Code in seeking an open records decision from this office. When a governmental body fails to comply with the procedural requirements of section 552.301, the information at issue is presumed public and must be released unless there is a compelling reason to withhold it. See Gov't Code § 552.302; Simmons v. Kuzmich, 166 S.W.3d 342, 350 (Tex. App.--Fort Worth 2005, no pet.); Hancock v. State Bd. of Ins., 797 S.W.2d 379, 381-82 (Tex. App.--Austin 1990, no writ) (governmental body must make compelling demonstration to overcome presumption of openness pursuant to statutory predecessor to section 552.302); see also Open Records Decision No. 630 (1994). Generally, a governmental body may demonstrate a compelling reason to withhold information by a showing the information is made confidential by another source of law or affects third party interests. See Open Records Decision No. 150 at 2 (1977). Because section 552.101 of the Government Code can provide a compelling reason to withhold information, we will consider your argument under this section.

Section 552.101 excepts from public disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. Section 552.101 encompasses section 508.313 of the Government Code, which provides, in relevant part:

(a) All information obtained and maintained [by the department], including a victim protest letter or other correspondence, a victim impact statement, a list of inmates eligible for release on parole, and an arrest record of an inmate, is confidential and privileged if the information relates to:

(1) an inmate of the institutional division [of the department] subject to release on parole, release to mandatory supervision, or executive clemency;

(2) a releasee; or

(3) a person directly identified in any proposed plan of release for an inmate.

Id. § 508.313(a); see id. § 508.001(9) ("releasee" means a person released on parole or to mandatory supervision). You state the submitted information constitutes documents originating from the Parole Division file of the department and relates to a releasee. You do not inform us the requestor is an entity authorized to obtain the information at issue under section 508.313(c). See id. § 508.313(c). You further state the submitted information is not made public by section 552.029 of the Government Code. See id. § 508.313(f). Based on your arguments and our review of the submitted information, we find the submitted information is subject to section 508.313 of the Government Code. Accordingly, the department must withhold the submitted information under section 552.101 in conjunction with section 508.313 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,

Claire V. Morris Sloan

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

CVMS/tf

Ref: ID# 408523

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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