DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services) • MuckRock

20 Communications
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Communications

From: Emily Corwin

08/12/2021

Subject: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Attention: Offices of Parole, Probation, Work Release, Transitional Housing and other reentry services.

To Whom It May Concern:

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

Any communications with DOC/department staff created between 1/1/2018 and present documenting solicitations by businesses and industry groups seeking to employ individuals incarcerated or supervised by DOC. Please include department responses.

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.

If you have questions don't hesitate to call me at 802 233 4992.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 4 business days, as the statute requires.

Sincerely,

Emily Corwin

From: Muckrock Staff

08/18/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

To Whom It May Concern:

I wanted to follow up on the following Nebraska Public Records Act request, copied below, and originally submitted on Aug. 12, 2021. Please let me know when I can expect to receive a response.

Thanks for your help, and let me know if further clarification is needed.

From: Department of Correctional Services

08/19/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Good afternoon,

Attached is NDCS' response to your request for public records.

Sincerely,

Kathleen Kokensparger
Public Records Manager | CENTRAL OFFICE

Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
OFFICE 402-479-5767
FAX 402-479-5623
kathleen.kokensparger@nebraska.gov<https://mail.nebraska.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=V4pR88jIRUVzu0a_BEeYhUyMGoCTp3IRG0H1EFpsaE6smBMvij7WCA..&URL=mailto%3akathleen.kokensparger%40nebraska.gov>
corrections.nebraska.gov<https://mail.nebraska.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=3tXpjzPHdUgAAM5iZyaZ3A-T_EDw-34iGlngmLlnenGsmBMvij7WCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.corrections.nebraska.gov%2f> |Facebook<https://mail.nebraska.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=hn51PO6-_gxC6CQ3djTJOQtClorILZHLDNrGqpqA6yqsmBMvij7WCA..&URL=https%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fNECorrections> | Twitter<https://mail.nebraska.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=_qR2HZ-wRPgar_KdQgXT6ZkSlPKcTwIulVjNFAxYVmKsmBMvij7WCA..&URL=https%3a%2f%2ftwitter.com%2fNECorrections>

20210819 Response to Emily Corwin MuckRock re Inmate Employers
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From: Emily Corwin

08/23/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Hi Kathleen,

Thank you for this very helpful response. I have no need to request a non-email document search. And yes, I am willing to pay the up to $198 for the email search and the first four hours of review that is included.

Please use the following search terms, and any others your department believes might be helpful in locating solicitations by businesses and industry groups seeking to employ individuals incarcerated or supervised by NDOCS. I'll provide a short list of search terms with an asterisk, the Boolean wildcard character that allows a search for different words stemming from the same root. Because a non-boolean list will be so much longer, I ask that you alert me if you are limited to a non-boolean search functionality and in that case I will send a complete list of cognates.

Boolean short list:
employ*
job*
work*
labor*
staff*
position*
business*
vocation*
occupation*
training*

In order to make this process as efficient as possible for both parties, you can tell your staff that they can consider non-responsive any emails with contents clearly unrelated to the employment of individuals incarcerated or supervised by NDOCS. Please INCLUDE any solicitations for unpaid labor; additional workers; new training programs associated with future employment; new partnerships between prison industries programs and outside contractors. Feel free to EXCLUDE emails related to internal prison jobs such as cleaning crews or laundry, or the recruitment or employment of NDOCS staff.

Feel free to reach out with any questions.
Many thanks!
Emily Corwin
802 233 4992

From: Department of Correctional Services

08/24/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Emily,

I've submitted the email search request with the keywords you listed below. I believe the search can be run with the wildcard, but if I'm incorrect, I will let you know.

I'll notify you of the number of results when we receive them, as well as the estimated time needed to review them. If the review will take more than 4 hours, I'll also provide you an estimated cost.

Best Wishes,

Kathleen Kokensparger
Public Records Manager | CENTRAL OFFICE

~WRD000
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From: Emily Corwin

08/25/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Many thanks, Kathleen!

Emily

From: Department of Correctional Services

08/27/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Emily,

I was informed that running this search with the terms listed would take well over the estimated 2 hours and produce millions of results. Would you like to try to narrow the search in some way?

Some ideas to narrow a search are:

1. Further restrict the date range. In this case, the date range would have to be substantially restricted if no other parameters are changed.
2. Add an additional required term. For instance, requesting "inmate" or "incarcerated" plus one of the terms listed below.
3. Reduce the number of NDCS staff members' emails searched by restricting it to staff members that work in certain areas. For instance, Cornhusker State Industries staff or administrative staff at community corrections facilities.

Let me know if/how you would like to modify the request, and I can work on getting it resubmitted.

Have a Good Weekend,

Kathleen Kokensparger
Public Records Manager | CENTRAL OFFICE

From: Emily Corwin

08/30/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Hi Kathleen,

Thanks so much for this follow up. Let's try your suggestion #3, limiting the search to the following areas:

1) REHABILITATION: Include those staff whose workflow includes overall Rehabilitation administration, as well as those administering Vocational Services and Reentry Services. Leave out those who are specifically focused on other rehabilitation work like clinical treatment and education, as well as anyone in Vocational and Reentry services who's level of authority would necessitate they forward any relevant emails to program administrators.
2) ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AT COMMUNITY CORRECTIONS FACILITIES
3) ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AT WORK ETHIC CAMP
4) ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF AT CORNHUSKER STATE INDUSTRIES

I believe Parole is no longer part of NDCS. Let me know if I've got that wrong, and I'll include them.

I am also able to shorten the list of search terms to a more reasonable length.

Boolean short list:
employ*
job*
work*
labor*
staff*
training*

Let me know how this sounds.

Thanks again for your assistance.

Emily

From: Department of Correctional Services

09/08/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Emily,

I submitted your revised email search request and have not yet received the results. I will let you know when I've received the results or if I hear back that the search would still produce an exorbitant number of results.

Best Wishes,

Kathleen Kokensparger
Public Records Manager | CENTRAL OFFICE

~WRD000
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From: Emily Corwin

09/08/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Many thanks!

From: Department of Correctional Services

09/27/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Emily,

The search was able to be run in 2 hours with the parameters you provided. However, it returned more than 250,000 results. I can draw up an estimate of the time it will take to review these results, but the estimated cost will likely be well into the thousands.

If you would like to filter the results further, please let me know. For instance, I would be able to filter results for only those containing a certain additional term or only those that do not include a certain term (or both). I'd also be able to further limit by date, recipient/sender, etc. Based on my brief review of some of the results, it appears that there are a lot of newsletters, advertisements, and similar mass media, if that is helpful in determining how you would like to filter the results. Unfortunately, I don't believe there's a way to filter out all these mass communications directly.

Best Wishes,

Kathleen Kokensparger
Public Records Manager | CENTRAL OFFICE

~WRD000
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From: Emily Corwin

09/27/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Hi Kathleen,

I'm so grateful to you for your continued assistance. I can offer some additional search terms to narrow by, relating to specific industries.

poultry
meat*
chicken
food*
production
processing
trailer
manufactur*
technology

Many thanks!
Emily

From: Department of Correctional Services

10/06/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Emily,

Attached is the estimate for reviewing the email search results. By filtering based on the terms you provided, we were able to decrease the results to around 50,000.

Best Wishes,

Kathleen Kokensparger
Public Records Manager | CENTRAL OFFICE

20211006 Email Search Review Estimate to Emily Corwin MuckRock re Inmate Employers
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From: Emily Corwin

10/07/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Hi Kathleen,

Thanks so much for this. I just left you a voicemail -- I feel like we're getting close here! I wonder if we could chat to see if there are any additional steps we could take to avoid asking your office to spend 100 hours sifting through these emails. My number is 802 233 4992. I'm available until 12 ET and again after 3pm ET today, and all day tomorrow.

Best,
Emily

From: Department of Correctional Services

10/20/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Emily,

I just wanted to touch base on your request, since it's been a while since we spoke.

It would take about 50 hours to review, redact, and provide a listing of the email sender/subject line of the email search results. It ended up being about 1900 PDF pages.

However, when reviewing the sender/subject lines to prepare the estimate, I noticed that emails from NDCS staff seemed to not be included in the results. I reached out to the organization that ran the search, and they have been looking into it. I'll let you know what I hear back from them.

Best Wishes,

Kathleen Kokensparger
Public Records Manager | CENTRAL OFFICE

From: Emily Corwin

10/22/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Many thanks for the update.

From: Department of Correctional Services

11/08/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Emily,

I finally received the email search results that were previously missing (emails from NDCS staff). After filtering those results based on the terms you provided on 9/27/21, there ended up being approximately 14,000 additional emails. That's in addition to the 54,000 responsive emails that were sent to NDCS staff.

Reviewing and providing just the sender/subject line of those additional emails would be an additional 16 hours of staff time, approximately. With the 50 hours estimated for the emails received by NDCS, that would total approximately 66 hours of staff time. Please let me know how you wish to proceed.

Best Wishes,

Kathleen Kokensparger
Public Records Manager | CENTRAL OFFICE

From: Emily Corwin

11/10/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Hi Kathleen,

Thanks so much for this. Am I correct in estimating that at $23.11/hour and 66 hours, we'd be looking at ~ $1525 ?

Many thanks again, I know this has been a process.

Emily

From: Department of Correctional Services

11/10/2021

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Emily,

The first 4 hours of staff time are free, so the cost would be for 62 hours at a rate of $23.11, for a total of up to $1432.82.
Best Wishes,
Kathleen

~WRD000
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From: Department of Correctional Services

07/08/2022

Subject: RE: Nebraska Public Records Act Request: DOC Employer Solicitations (Department of Correctional Services)

Emily,

As NDCS has reached the end of our fiscal year, I've been closing out incomplete requests from the past year. Since you did not go forward with the review of the email search results on this request, the attached billing information reflects only the cost of running the email search ($198.00). Our Accounting Division will create a formal bill, but attached are the details.

Best Wishes,

Kathleen Kokensparger
Public Records Manager | CENTRAL OFFICE

Nebraska Department of Correctional Services
OFFICE 402-479-5767
CELL 402-416-6426
FAX 402-479-5623
kathleen.kokensparger@nebraska.gov<https://mail.nebraska.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=V4pR88jIRUVzu0a_BEeYhUyMGoCTp3IRG0H1EFpsaE6smBMvij7WCA..&URL=mailto%3akathleen.kokensparger%40nebraska.gov>
corrections.nebraska.gov<https://mail.nebraska.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=3tXpjzPHdUgAAM5iZyaZ3A-T_EDw-34iGlngmLlnenGsmBMvij7WCA..&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.corrections.nebraska.gov%2f> |Facebook<https://mail.nebraska.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=hn51PO6-_gxC6CQ3djTJOQtClorILZHLDNrGqpqA6yqsmBMvij7WCA..&URL=https%3a%2f%2fwww.facebook.com%2fNECorrections> | Twitter<https://mail.nebraska.gov/owa/redir.aspx?C=_qR2HZ-wRPgar_KdQgXT6ZkSlPKcTwIulVjNFAxYVmKsmBMvij7WCA..&URL=https%3a%2f%2ftwitter.com%2fNECorrections>

20220708 Final Billing Notification to Emily Corwin MuckRock re Inmate Employers
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Files

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08/19/2021

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08/19/2021

20210819 Response to Emily Corwin MuckRock re Inmate Employers
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08/24/2021

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09/08/2021

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09/27/2021

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10/06/2021

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10/06/2021

20211006 Email Search Review Estimate to Emily Corwin MuckRock re Inmate Employers
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11/10/2021

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07/08/2022

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07/08/2022

20220708 Final Billing Notification to Emily Corwin MuckRock re Inmate Employers
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Submitted	Aug. 12, 2021
Est. Completion	None