Atlantic County (NJ) Correctional/Detention Facilities

CUSTODIAN RESPONSE TO OPRA REQUEST # 333-2014 - 1/8/15

You have submitted a request for governmental records pursuant to the New
Jersey Open Public Records Act, N.J.S.A. 47:1-1A, et seq., commonly referred
to as "OPRA". You have indicated that your preferred delivery method is
email at the following address: requests@muckrock.com.

Your request sought:

The most recent, complete list of all correctional and detention facilities
located within Atlantic County. If possible, please include information
detailing:

1. The jurisdictional authority responsible for each facility (federal,
state, county, town, other, etc)
2. The type of facility (prison, jail, juvenile detention center,
halfway house, etc)
3. contact information (physical address, mailing address, telephone
number, fax number, email address
4. Any facility demographic information (population, number of
employees, etc)

Unfortunately, the document you describe in your request (a list of all
correctional & detention facilities) does not exist, and a Records Custodian
is not required to create records in

response to an OPRA request. See Librissi v. Township of Verona Police
Department, GRC Complaint No 2009-213 (August 2010). Instead, a Custodian
is obligated only to provide

identifiable government records.

Additionally, please be advised that the OPRA statute does not govern
information - only identifiable documents. Each of your requests numbered
1-4 seeks information, as opposed to an identifiable government document. As
such, your request is not valid under OPRA. Under the GRC decision in
Morris v Trenton Police Department, Complaint No. 2007-160, and the cases
cited therein, a request for information as opposed to a request for an
identifiable government record is not a valid OPRA request. See the quote
below:

"Because the Complainant's OPRA request did not specify an identifiable
government record but instead sought information, the Complainant's OPRA
request is invalid." Mag Entertainment LLC. V. Div. of Alcoholic Beverage
Control, 375 N.J.Super. 534 (App. Div. 2005); Bent v. Stafford Police
Department, 381 N.J.Super. 30 (App. Div. 2005).

Nevertheless, I have provided a link to the Atlantic County Justice
Facility, where you can find most of the information you are seeking:
<http://www.aclink.org/publicsafety/mainpages/adult_det.asp>
http://www.aclink.org/publicsafety/mainpages/adult_det.asp

Additionally, with regard to Atlantic County's juvenile detention center,
Harborfields, please visit the following website:

http://www.aclink.org/publicsafety/mainpages/harborfields.asp

Lastly, with regard to item 4, I was able to obtain the following
information:

The Atlantic County Justice Facility employs 26 civilian employees and 225
sworn employees. In terms of population, the average daily count in 2014 was
785 inmates, and as of yesterday, the current daily count is 722.

Below is my contact information should you have any questions regarding your
request.

Thank you,

Elizabeth D'Ancona

Assistant County Counsel

Atlantic County Department of Law

1333 Atlantic Avenue, 8th Floor

Atlantic City, NJ 08401-8278

(609) 345- 6700 Ext 2464

e-mail: dancona_elizabeth@aclink.org