February 11, 2011

Mr. James Mu

Assistant General Counsel

TDCJ - Office of the General Counsel

P.O. Box 4004

Huntsville, Texas 77342-4004

OR2011-02116

Dear Mr. Mu:

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# 409080 (TDCJ #893577).

The Texas Department of Criminal Justice (the "department") received a request for the visitation records of a named inmate. You claim that the requested information is excepted from disclosure under sections 552.101 and 552.134 of the Government Code. We have considered the exceptions you claim and reviewed the submitted information.

Section 552.134 of the Government Code is applicable to information relating to inmates of the department. Section 552.134(a) states the following:

[e]xcept 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). You state the submitted information is related to an inmate of the department. We note that none of the submitted information appears to be subject to section 552.029 of the Government Code. See id. § 552.029 (providing that eight specified categories of information about inmate confined in facility operated by or under contract with department are subject to required disclosure, notwithstanding Gov't Code §§ 508.313 and 552.134). Based on your representation and our review of the information at issue, we conclude the submitted information is subject to section 552.134. We note the requestor is an attorney representing the named inmate. Section 552.023 of the Government Code gives a person or that person's authorized representative a "special right of access, beyond the right of the general public, to information held by a governmental body that relates to the person and that is protected from public disclosure by laws intended to protect that person's privacy interests." Id. § 552.023. However, section 552.134 not only protects the inmate's privacy interest, but also protects the interests of the governmental body. As such, the requestor does not have a special right of access to the submitted information under section 552.023. See id. § 552.023(b) (governmental body may assert provisions of Act or other law that are not intended to protect person's privacy interests to withhold information to which requestor may otherwise have a special right of access). Accordingly, the department must withhold the submitted information under section 552.134. As our ruling is dispositive, we need not address your remaining argument against disclosure.

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,

Jennifer Luttrall

Assistant Attorney General

Open Records Division

JL/dls

Ref: ID# 409080

Enc. Submitted documents

c: Requestor

(w/o enclosures)

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