Electronic Monitoring - Department of Youth Services

Dear Department of Youth Services Records Access Officer:

Pursuant to the Massachusetts Public Records Law, I hereby request the following records:
1. All existing monthly, quarterly, and annual reports or other records that indicate the number of people within DYS custody (including
either detained or committed youth) who are subject to electronic monitoring (by which we mean GPS or ankle bracelet monitoring,
hereinafter referred to as “ELMO”) from January 1, 2019 to the time when this request is answered. We are interested in records that indicate
the average length of time an individual is on ELMO, the reason that an individual is on ELMO and the geographic and demographic (race,
ethnicity, age, sex) breakdowns of individuals on ELMO.

2. Records that include information on the operation and implementation of ELMO, including:
a. Policy manuals or other guidance documents that address, mention, discuss, or implement (by name or in substance) as to how your
agency operates or utilizes GPS monitoring,
b. Guidance on how violations of ELMO terms/conditions are handled,
c. Any documents or records that show the impact of ELMO term/condition violations (i.e. whether the individual re-incarcerated, etc),
d. Any documents or records that address which staff or unit(s) are responsible for monitoring participants on ELMO,
e. The cost of ELMO GPS devices to individuals who are on ELMO, if any, and
f. Any memorandum of understanding or other records that define the relationship between the Department of Youth Services and the
Massachusetts Probation Service or its ELMO vendors for the provision of people subject to ELMO in DYS custody on expedited release under
community supervision or

3. An extract of your records management system that indicates line-level data of the number of individuals on ELMO who are under the Department of Youth Services’s custody, on expedited release under community supervision or otherwise from January 1, 2019 to the time when this request is answered. Specifically, we request the following fields in an excel or CSV format for all people who were on ELMO at any point at your agency during the above-mentioned time:
l. The individual’s start date on ELMO
m. The individual’s end date on ELMO
n. Reason/status of individual on ELMO (i.e. parole, pre-release, expedited release under community supervision etc.)
o. Reason for individual being released from ELMO, if applicable
p. County and Zip Code of individual
q. Age of individual
r. Gender of individual
s. Race of individual
t. Ethnicity of individual
u. Underlying lead charge and/or offense for which the person was convicted
v. Whether the person’s GPS conditions were allegedly violated, how many times such an alleged violation occurred, whether the
violation was sustained, and what the outcome of said violation was, if applicable.

This information does not require identified data or any personally identifying information of any person in the custody of the Department of Youth Services. This records request seeks only aggregate statistics, or non-identifying database extracts, and documents as outlined above.

With respect to the form of production, we note that relevant regulations require the production of records in an accessible, commonly used electronic form, to the extent feasible. See 950 CMR 32.04(5)(d). Record custodians are also required to implement new record keeping systems and databases in such a way as to allow for “retrieval of public portions of records to provide maximum public access.” See 950 CMR 32.07(1)(e). Extraction of such data from a database or electronic record system does not constitute creating a new record. See 950 CMR 32.07(1)(f). Printing these records from a database or electronic system, redacting them with a marker, and then re-scanning them, is generally not consistent with these regulations; this process provides the digital records neither in the preferred form nor in a “searchable machine-readable form.” 950 CMR 32.04(5)(d). If necessary, we welcome reasonable suggested modifications pursuant to 950 CMR 32.06(2)(g). Per Attorney Gen. v. Dist. Attorney for Plymouth Dist., 484 Mass. 260, 141 N.E.3d 429 (2020), compiling information from a database is not tantamount to creating a new record that would otherwise be precluded under public records law. Specifically: “Where public records are in electronic form, a public records request that requires a government entity to search its electronic database to extract requested data does not mean that the extracted data constitute the creation of a new record, which would not be required, under the public records law. " Id. at 442 to 443. Thus, we request that your department query its database and provide a response to the records request.

Should you determine that some portions of the documents are exempt from disclosure, please release any reasonably segregable portions that are not exempt. In addition, please note for any such redactions the applicable statutory exemption and explain why it applies to the redacted or withheld information.

I also request that fees be waived as we believe this request is in the public interest, as suggested but not stipulated by the recommendations of the Massachusetts Supervisor of Public Records. 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 be filled electronically, by email attachment if available.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 10 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Joshua Dankoff
Director of Strategic Initiatives
Erin Stewart
School to Prison Pipeline Project
Citizens for Juvenile Justice

Hello:

It looks like you agreed to get us this data this week. Do you have any updates on the progress of this records request? We've gotten some data from other state agencies, and we're still interested in getting records from you. We'll look out for it next week.

Best,
Erin Stewart
Citizens for Juvenile Justice