Source: https://portal.ct.gov/FOI/Quick-Links/Quick-Links/Compliance
Timestamp: 2019-10-20 11:10:48
Document Index: 559066428

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1', '§ 1']

METHOD OF COMPLIANCE WITH THE NOTIFICATION
REQUIREMENTS OF CONN. GEN. STAT. § 1-210(c)
(regarding requests from inmates made under FOIA)
The purpose of this notice to all public agencies and municipalities is to clarify the policy to be followed, pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-210(c), regarding requests such public agencies and municipalities receive from incarcerated individuals for documents under the Freedom of Information Act.
1. The public agency should deliver the documents requested by the incarcerated individual to the Department of Correction’s Freedom of Information Administrator at the following address:
2. The public agency delivering the documents to the Department of Correction’s Freedom of Information Administrator should first redact from such records any information the agency believes is exempt from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act, other than exemptions pursuant to § 1-210(b)(18). Alternatively, the public agency may withhold in its entirety any record that the agency believes is exempt in its entirety.
3. The Department of Correction’s Freedom of Information Administrator will promptly deliver to the requesting inmate any records that the Commissioner of Correction does not reasonably believe will constitute a safety or security risk.
4. In the event the Department of Correction withholds records from an inmate, the Department of Correction’s Freedom of Information Administrator or the Administrator’s duly authorized designee will promptly notify the requesting inmate in writing that records have been withheld, the reason they were withheld, and a general description of those records.
5. Records that are withheld by the Department of Correction will be retained for the length of an appeal, if any.
6. If the Department of Correction is not notified of any appeal within 60 days of the notice set forth above in Paragraph 4, then the records will be returned to the sending agency.
Whereas Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-210(c) provides, in part:
Whenever a public agency receives a request from any person confined in a correctional institution or facility …, for disclosure of any public record under the Freedom of Information Act, the public agency shall promptly notify the Commissioner of Correction … of such request, in the manner prescribed by the commissioner, before complying with the request as required by the Freedom of Information Act.
Whereas the Freedom of Information Commission (“FOIC”) has issued decisions in the following matters concerning the manner in which notice shall be given by public agencies to the Commissioner of Correction before public agencies comply with requests for public records by inmates, pursuant to Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-210(c):
Docket #FIC 2008-584, Sylvia v. Commissioner;
Docket #FIC 2008-683, Stevenson v. Micklus; and
Docket #FIC 2008-057, Salaman v. New Haven Police Department; and
Whereas confusion has arisen among public agencies as to how to comply with the notification requirements of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-210(c) and still be consistent with the above-cited decisions and with the statutory directive that notice be given “in the manner prescribed by the commissioner [of correction]”; and
Whereas that confusion has resulted in incidents of delivery of records to inmates that are neither in compliance with Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-210(c) nor in the interests of the safety and security of correctional facilities, their staff, or their inmates; and
Therefore, to clarify the notification requirements of Conn. Gen. Stat. § 1-210(c) the Department of Correction (“DOC”) agrees to post the following manner of notification prescribed by the Commissioner of Correction on the DOC’s website, and the FOIC agrees to provide a link on the FOIC’s appropriate web page to the DOC’s website page that outlines such notice requirement; and
This Resolution, once adopted, shall be deemed to apply to any existing or prospective obligations of the parties in the three contested cases cited above.