Louisiana Administrative Code › Title 22 - CORRECTIONS, CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND LAW ENFORCEMENT › Part I - Corrections › Chapter 1 - Secretary's Office › Section I-101 - Access to and Release of Active and Inactive Offender Records

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 6, June 20, 2024
A. Purpose. This
				department regulation establishes the secretary's policy and procedures for
				access to and release of active and inactive offender records.
B. Applicability. Deputy Secretary, Chief of
				Operations, Undersecretary, Assistant Secretary, Regional Wardens, Wardens,
				Director of Probation and Parole and Director of Prison Enterprises. Each unit
				head shall ensure appropriate unit written policies and procedures are in place
				to comply with the provisions of this regulation and for conveying its contents
				to all affected people.
C. Policy.
				The secretary's policy is access to and release of active and inactive offender
				records shall be governed in accordance with federal and state laws and by the
				procedures contained within this department regulation.
D. Definitions
Incarceration Verification (Letter of
				  Incarceration)
-a standardized form used to fulfill requests for
				  letters of incarceration, pursuant to
				  R.S.
				  15:714. The incarceration verification shall
				  contain, at a minimum, the offender's or ex-offender's name, the dates of
				  incarceration or supervision, the admission date, the release date, and the
				  last location of incarceration. The incarceration verification is not to be
				  used as a comprehensive criminal history record. The incarceration verification
				  verifies the period of time an offender/ex-offender was incarcerated or on
				  supervision and is related to the most recent felony charges recorded in the
				  DPS and C system-of-record as of the date of the form's completion. The
				  document is intended to support an individual's successful transition from
				  incarceration or supervision as it relates to employment, healthcare, housing,
				  transportation, or family reunification.
Law Enforcement Agencies
-those agencies
				  designed to enforce federal, state or municipal laws and who receive public
				  funds as their primary source for operation, for example: sheriffs' offices,
				  local police departments, and state police, departments of corrections, U.S.
				  attorneys, district attorneys and the Federal Bureau of Investigation
				  (FBI.)
Offender/Ex-Offender
-anyone in the physical
				  custody of the Department of Public Safety and Corrections (DPS and C) or under
				  the supervision of the Division of Probation and Parole. For the purpose of
				  this regulation, ex-offenders are those offenders who are no longer in the
				  physical custody of the DPS&C or no longer under the supervision of the
				  Division of Probation and Parole.
E. Release of Information and Records
1. The presentence investigation report, the
				pre-parole report, the clemency report, the information and data gathered by
				the staffs of the Board of Pardons and Committee on Parole, the prison record,
				and any other information obtained by the boards or the department, in the
				discharge of official duties, shall be confidential, shall not be subject to
				public inspection, and shall not be disclosed directly or indirectly to anyone,
				except as in accordance with this regulation.
2. All information pertaining to an
				offender's misconduct while incarcerated, statistical information, information
				pertaining to disposition of criminal charges and incarcerations, and
				information of a general nature (including an individual's age, offense, date
				of conviction, length of sentence, any correspondence by a public official
				which requests, or may be determined to be in support of, or in opposition to,
				the parole or pardon of an offender, and discharge date) shall be released to
				the general public at any time upon proper request.
NOTE: This provision shall not apply to any public official
				  correspondence which requests, or may be determined to be in support of, or in
				  opposition to, the parole or pardon of an offender which was received prior to
				  August 15, 1997.
3. Except
				as noted below, any communication with the Committee on Parole or Board of
				Pardons urging parole, pardon, clemency, commutation of sentence, or otherwise
				regarding an offender shall be deemed a public record and subject to public
				inspection.
EXCEPTION: Any letter written by, or on behalf of, any victim
				  of a crime committed by an offender under consideration for parole, pardon,
				  clemency, or commutation of sentence, or any letter written in opposition to
				  parole, pardon, clemency, or commutation of sentence shall be confidential and
				  shall not be deemed a public record and subject to public inspection.
This exception shall not apply to letters written by any
				  elected or appointed public official, meaning: these letters are not
				  confidential and may be released in accordance with Paragraph E.2 of this
				  Section.
4. Information on
				a particular offender may be released without special authorization, subject to
				other restrictions that may be imposed by federal law or by other provisions of
				state law, to the following:
a. Committee on
				Parole;
b. Board of
				Pardons;
c. governor;
d. sentencing judge;
e. district attorneys;
f. law enforcement agencies;
g. DPS and C personnel, including legal
				representatives and student workers;
h. appropriate governmental agencies or
				public officials, when access to such information is imperative for the
				discharge of the responsibilities of the requesting agency, official, or court
				officer and the information is not reasonably available through any other
				means; and
i. court officers with
				court orders specifying the information requested.
5. Fingerprints, photographs, and information
				pertaining to arrests and disposition of criminal charges, as well as
				information regarding escapes, may be released to law enforcement agencies
				without special authorization.
6.
				The unit head or designee may approve the reading but not copying, of
				confidential information by the following:
a.
				social service agencies assisting in the treatment of the offender or
				ex-offender; or
b. approved
				researchers who have guaranteed in writing anonymity of all subjects.
NOTE: No information shall be given or shall be allowed to be
				  read without the offender's or ex-offender's written consent to the release of
				  the information.
7. The unit head or designee may approve the
				selective reading (but not copying) of information by a private citizen or
				organization aiding in the rehabilitation of, or directly involved in the
				hiring of, the offender or exoffender under the following conditions:
a. It appears the withholding of the
				information would be to the offender's or ex-offender's disadvantage;
b. The requested information is necessary to
				further the rehabilitation or the likelihood of hiring the offender or
				ex-offender;
c. The requested
				information is not reasonably available through other means.
NOTE: No information shall be given or shall be allowed to be
				  read without the offender's or ex-offender's written consent to the release of
				  the information.
8. Each unit head or designee shall utilize a
				consent to release information for the purpose of releasing information
				pursuant to Paragraphs E.6 and 7 of this Section, and a copy shall be placed in
				the offender's master prison record.