2014 FL DOC private prison transfer requests
| Tracking # |
14-669 |
| Submitted | Jan. 28, 2015 |
| Est. Completion | None |
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Communications
From: Beryl Lipton
To Whom It May Concern:
Pursuant to Florida's Sunshine Law (Fla. Stat. secs. 119.01 to 119.15 (1995)), I hereby request the following records:
All progress reports submitted to the on-site Department of Corrections representative for the transfer of an inmate from the Facility (Moore Haven Correctional Facility), as outlined in Section 5.1 of the "Transfer Agreement Among Department of Corrections, Department of Management Services and The GEO Group, Inc." (DC AGREEMENT #A3448), effective 1/13/14 [https://muckrock.s3.amazonaws.com/foia_files/A3448_Transfert_Agreement_-_Moore_Haven_1.pdf]. Please include the DC State Classification Office approval/disapproval designation given to each request, as well as all requests for additional information and materials provided in response. Please include, at minimum, all portions of the request included in Section 5.1 "Procedure." If redactions are necessary, please include reasons.
I also request that, if appropriate, fees be waived as I believe this request is in the public interest. The requested documents will be made available to the general public free of charge as part of the public information service at MuckRock.com, processed by a representative of the news media/press and is made in the process of news gathering and not for commercial usage.
In the event that fees cannot be waived, 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 would request your response within ten (10) business days.
Sincerely,
Beryl C.D. Lipton
From: Beard, Donna
Dear Mr. Lipton:
The Department of Corrections is in receipt of your public records request below for all records referenced in Section 5.1 of DC AGREEMENT #A3448:
5.1. Procedure. GEO shall request via a written progress report that an inmate be transferred from the Facility. GEO shall submit the progress report to the on-site DC representative, according to DC's established classification procedures. The DC's State Classification Office will either approve or disapprove the recommendation, or request additional information, based upon the facts as outlined in the request. The request shall reflect, at a minimum, the following information:
5.1.1. Inmate's name
5.1.2. Inmate’s number
5.1.3. Complete medical profile
5.1.4. Special review information
5.1.5. Rationale for transfer
5.1.6. Inmate’s adjustment while at the Facility
5.1.7. Custody grade
5.1.8. Programs completed or participated in at the Facility
5.1.9. The primary and secondary transfer destination
Your request has been logged as PRR 14-669 and forwarded to Raymond James, the Department’s representative at Moore Haven Correctional Facility, for review and response.
If records responsive to your request are determined to exist, you may receive a cost estimate (DC1-201) and upon receipt of payment, non-confidential and non-exempt records will be produced or made available for inspection in accordance with Ch. 119 and s. 945.10, Florida Statutes.
Sincerely,
Donna Beard
Department of Corrections
Office of the General Counsel
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2500
(850) 717-3625
Our Vision: "Changing Lives to Ensure a Safer Florida"
-
~WRD000
From: Beard, Donna
Dear Mr. Lipton:
In response to your request below, please be advised that the Department does not maintain records in the manner in which you have requested. Records are maintained by inmate name and there is no existing mechanism for retrieving the names of inmates who were transferred from Moore Haven Correctional Facility over the past year. Public records law does not require that an agency create a record in response to a public records request.
The statutory obligation of the custodian of public records is to provide access to, or copies of, public records “at any reasonable time, under reasonable conditions, and under supervision by the custodian of the public records” provided that the required fees are paid. Section 119.07(1) (a) and (4), F.S. However, a custodian is not required to give out information from the records of his or her office. AGO 80-57. The Public Records Act does not require a town to produce an employee, such as the financial officer, to answer questions regarding the financial records of the town. AGO 92-38. Cf. In re Report of the Supreme Court Workgroup on Public Records, 825 So. 2d 889, 898 (Fla. 2002) (the custodian of judicial records “is required to provide access to or copies of records but is not required either to provide information from records or to create new records in response to a request”).
In other words, Ch. 119, F.S., provides a right of access to inspect and copy an agency’s existing public records; it does not mandate that an agency create new records in order to accommodate a request for information from the agency. Thus, the clerk of court is not required to provide an inmate with a list of documents from a case file which may be responsive to some forthcoming request. Wootton v. Cook, 590 So. 2d 1039 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991). See also AGO 08-29 (agency not required to create list in response to request for information).
Sincerely,
Donna Beard
Department of Corrections
Office of the General Counsel
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2500
(850) 717-3625
Our Vision: "Changing Lives to Ensure a Safer Florida"
-
~WRD000
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Ms. Beard,
Thank you very much for your message. Can you please clarify the mechanism by which requests for transfers are made? My understanding is that a request is made to the on-site DC representative; I'm curious about the means by which that is done. Relatedly, though there is no way for you to identify inmates that have been transferred out of Moore Haven Correctional Facility, I wonder if there more general records of such transactions.
Thank you for all of your help!
Beryl
From: Beard, Donna
I believe there is a DC procedure (which according to the MOAs with the contract facilities, the contract facilities are required to follow), or that at least that info is part of a DC procedure. I will try to locate that record for you. As for a more general record, the only thing I can think of that may or may not exist is an overall yearly number of transfers at any given facility; but whether that information has been captured is unknown. I will check with classification and research and data and follow up with you when I have located the transfer procedure/info.
-
~WRD000
From: Beard, Donna
Mr. Lipton,
Attached, please find the Department’s procedure on inmate transfers. Still checking out the “more general records” aspect.
Thank you,
Donna Beard
Department of Corrections
Office of the General Counsel
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2500
(850) 717-3625
Our Vision: "Changing Lives to Ensure a Safer Florida"
-
~WRD000
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Ms. Beard,
I'm wondering whether any progress had been made in tracking down some gauge of how transfers are monitored.
Thank you for all your help!
Beryl
From: Beard, Donna
Ms. Lipton,
I have checked with classification (as well as Research and Data) for an update. Classification does not have transfer history, other than by inmate name and DC number, and states that they have not had Research and Data compile this information. Waiting on follow up from R&D.
Sincerely,
Donna Beard
Department of Corrections
Office of the General Counsel
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2500
(850) 717-3625
Our Vision: "Changing Lives to Ensure a Safer Florida"
-
~WRD000
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Ms. Beard,
Again, thank you so much for all of your help. Could you please clarify the lack of documentation responsive to my initial request? My understanding is that the request for transfer and its results are eventually placed into the inmate's file and would need to be pulled individually based on previous knowledge of a particular inmate's transfer situation. Could you please provide more details about this snag? I'm also wondering whether you've had any luck with the on-site Department of Corrections representative. In what form are these progress reports submitted? Electronically?
I would love to do what I can to make your search for some sort of responsive information easier.
Have a lovely afternoon,
Beryl
From: Beard, Donna
Ms. Lipton,
I thought I had explained that according to DMS the “submittal of progress reports” is language from prior agreements that is superfluous with regard to the Department’s procedure on transfers. I was informed that transfer requests between facilities/institutions are submitted electronically and that the entire process is electronic. The so called “snag” is that transfer records, like all other inmate records, are maintained by inmate name and DC#. Without an inmate name or DC number, there is no way to provide records without searching every inmate record to determine whether a transfer record exists.
I was trying to find out if transfer records had been compiled for the Department through the writing of some code by Research & Data that would pull the information from the database by institution rather than inmate name or DC number. R&D has not located such a code as of yet, and they are not required to create codes in response to public records requests.
I have copied DMS and GEO on this response for directing further questions on section 5.1 of the transfer agreements to.
Sincerely,
Donna Beard
Department of Corrections
Office of the General Counsel
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2500
(850) 717-3625
Our Vision: "Changing Lives to Ensure a Safer Florida"
-
~WRD000
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Ms. Beard,
I'd like to follow up on this to see if any code was generated or any other methods determined by Research and Data regarding isolating those inmates that have been transferred from the facility. If not, I'm wondering if the relevant department would be able to provide some more information about the program that contains the information and whether it may be possible to create and provide the necessary code from this end.
Thanks so much for your help!
Beryl
From: Beard, Donna
Ms. Lipton:
Please let me know the facilities/institutions and the date ranges for which you are seeking transfer information.
Thank you,
Donna Beard
Department of Corrections
Office of the General Counsel
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2500
(850) 717-3625
Our Vision: "Changing Lives to Ensure a Safer Florida"
-
~WRD000
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Ms. Beard,
I apologize for having missed this message. I would like materials from the following facilities:
Bay Correctional Facility
Blackwater River Correctional Facility
Gadsden Correctional Facility
Graceville Correctional Facility
Lake City Youthful Offender Facility
Moore Haven Correctional Facility
South Bay Correctional Facility
I would appreciate transfer data for each of them from January 1, 2000 through today. If that is technologically burdensome or if an extended time frame is available without additional work, please let me know. I would appreciate it if the materials contained as much segregable data as possible, including, but not limited to:
• transfer identification number
• reason for transfer
• data of transfer
• originating facility
• receiving facility
• individual's original offense resulting in custody
• individual's medical classification
• individual's race
• individual's date of birth/age
• any other demographic or offense related material
Thank you so much for all of your help. Please let me know if I can do anything to help.
Best wishes,
Beryl
From: Beard, Donna
Dear Ms. Lipton,
The Department of Corrections has no existing code for compiling the requested transfer data. The following estimate is provided in accordance with section 119.07(4)(d), Florida Statutes and Rule 33-102.101, Fla. Admin. Code, reflecting the cost for production of the nonexistent record of information as specified by the Department below, in response to your request.
Special Service Charge hours
2
x
$22.00
hourly rate
=
$44.00
• transfer identification number (inmate DC number will be provided)
• reason for transfer (will not be provided – confidential/exempt security and/or protected health information)**
• data of transfer (will be provided)
• originating facility (will be provided)
• receiving facility (will be provided)
• individual's original offense resulting in custody (will not be provided, requester can pull from department’s web database)*
• individual's medical classification (will not be provided – confidential protected health information)**
• individual's race (will be provided)
• individual's date of birth/age (will be provided)
• any other demographic or offense related material (will not be provided, requester can pull from department’s web database)*
*http://www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/obis_request.html
**The following statutory exemptions apply to confidential/exempt information:
· Medical, psychological, and dental records, without a properly executed DC4-711B Consent for Release form. § 945.10(1)(a), 456.057(7)(a), F.S., 45 C.F.R., § 164.502.
· Information, which if released, would jeopardize a person’s safety. § 945.10(1)(e), F.S.
Following receipt of payment in the form of a check payable to the Department of Corrections sent to the address below, records will be produced in accordance with Ch. 119 and s. 945.10, Fla. Stat.
Sincerely,
Donna Beard
Department of Corrections
Office of the General Counsel
501 South Calhoun Street
Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2500
(850) 717-3625
Our Vision: "Changing Lives to Ensure a Safer Florida"
-
~WRD000
From: Beryl Lipton
Hello Ms. Beard,
Could you please clarify the fee that your department has requested? Are there no responsive materials? Would it be possible to discuss this request and the ability to get any responsive materials with yourself or representatives of the facilities in question? I understand that the public records law does not require your office to respond to questions, but I am very much interested in retrieving this data, and based on the inapplicability of the contract language, reasonable direction would be appreciated.
Thanks so much,
Beryl
From: Beard, Donna
The Department of Corrections has no responsive records in the manner you have requested. Additionally, there is no existing code to capture the data. Public records law does not require that the Department create new records (including codes) in response to Ch. 119 requests; however, Research and Data has agreed to do so in order to produce the data as they have indicated below, for the estimated cost provided.
-
~WRD000
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