COVID vaccines (Department of Correction)

Emma North-Best filed this request with the Department of Correction of Indiana.
Multi Request COVID vaccines
Status
Completed

Communications

From: Emma North-Best


To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Indiana Access to Public Records Act, I hereby request the following records:

* Files, including letters, memos and emails, describing or discussing policies, guidance and procedures for providing COVID-19 vaccines to prisoners/inmates and/or staff.

* Files mentioning or describing the number of vaccines given to prisoners/inmates and/or staff.

I am a member of the news media and request classification as such. I have previously written about the government and its activities, with some reaching over 100,000 readers in outlets such as Gizmodo, MuckRock, Motherboard, Property of the People, Unicorn Riot, and The Outline, among others. As such, as I have a reasonable expectation of publication and my editorial and writing skills are well established. In addition, I discuss and comment on the files online and make them available through non-profits such as the library Internet Archive and the journalist non-profit MuckRock, disseminating them to a large audience. While my research is not limited to this, a great deal of it, including this, focuses on the activities and attitudes of the government itself.

As my primary purpose is to inform about government activities by reporting on it and making the raw data available, I request that fees be waived.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filled electronically, by e-mail attachment if available or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 7 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Emma North-Best

From: Department of Correction

Good Morning,

In accordance with the requirement of IC 5-14-3-3, this is in response to the public information request you recently sent to the Indiana Department of Correction. You have requested memos, educational materials, policy and procedures, videos, and vaccination information provided to staff and offenders as it pertains to the Indiana Department of Correction's response to COVID-19.

HERE<https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1_B0_oejFBRH-Qr39GywtzkBs4uVw4RF8?usp=sharing> you will find documents responsive to your request. Currently, 13,956 offenders (approx. 59% of DOC's population) have accepted the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine and 13,102 are fully vaccinated. IDOC continues to offer vaccine clinics statewide. Additional information can be found publicly HERE<https://www.in.gov/idoc/about-idoc/idoc-comprehensive-response-to-covid-19/>. If after reviewing these attachment there are more specific questions or records you wish to inspect, please submit a new request. Indiana's public records law (APRA) requires a request for public records to be made with "reasonable particularity." Indiana's Public Access Counselor (PAC) has published numerous advisory opinions on the topic of reasonable particularity. This is necessary for any agency to correctly and efficiently locate and disclose records responsive to a request. Please provide specific facilities, dates, times, and keywords, whenever possible. A request will need to be narrowed for the Department to complete a productive search.

Thank you,

IDOC Public Records

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