Texas Prison Operational Review

Dear Mr. King:

I am contacting you with regards to your Public Information Act Request submitted with a subject line “Texas Prison Operational Review.” In this request, you seek the following:

1. All division level operational review audits conducted by the Safe Prisons/PREA Management Office staff of the Safe Prisons/PREA Program, as mandated by the "Duties of the Safe Prisons/PREA Management Office" section of the Safe Prisons/PREA Operations Manual, since Jan. 1, 2016.

2. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice "Operational Review Manual."

3. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice "Safe Prisons/PREA Plan."

4. The "Safe Prisons Peer Educator Training Manual."
Items #3 and #4 will be sent to you. However, before releasing item #2, I want to give you an opportunity to narrow your request. Based on the nature of your requests, it appears you are primarily interested in Safe Prisons and PREA-related information. By contrast, the Operational Review Manual contains a large amount of information, ranging from information about Manufacturing and Logistics to the Windham School District. Additionally, some portions of the Manual may contain security-sensitive information and, therefore, would require us to seek a ruling from the Attorney General before releasing it to you.

I have attached the Table of Contents for the Operational Review Manual. Please review it and let me know if you would like to narrow your request to particular sections of the Manual.

Additionally, I have a question about your request in item #1. The division level operational review audits contain information about TDCJ inmates. This type of information is confidential pursuant to Tex. Gov’t Code § 552.134. These records may also contain information that is excepted from public disclosure pursuant to Tex. Gov’t Code § 552.108. If you give us permission to redact these documents of any information protected by §§ 552.134 or 552.108, then we can promptly provide those records. If not, we will seek a ruling from the Attorney General.

Once we receive clarification, we will continue to process your request. Please note the following:

If by the 61st Day after the date of this letter, which is September 9, 2017, no written response is received from you, your open records request is considered withdrawn pursuant to Texas Government Code, § 552.222.

Please contact assistant general counsel Eric Miller at 936-437-6002 if you have any questions. Sometimes issues like these are best addressed over the phone, so feel free to give call.

Regards,
Amy Lee
Legal Assistant II

The information contained in this email and any attachments is intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain confidential, privileged, or proprietary information. Any other use of these materials is strictly prohibited. This email shall not be forwarded outside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Office of the General Counsel, without the permission of the original sender. If you have received this material in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and destroy all electronic, paper, or other versions.

Mr. King,

The requested documents, of which the Safe Prisons/PREA Management Office (SPPMO) is the office of record, are attached for your review. The Safe Prisons/PREA Plan is accessible to the public by accessing the following link: http://www.tdcj.state.tx.us/documents/cid/Safe_Prisons_PREA_Plan.pdf.

Please let me know if you need anything further.

Thank you,

Lorena Steinbecker
Agency Safe Prisons/PREA Manager
Office: 936-437-8918
Fax: 936-437-6207

Mr. King,

Your July 18th and August 2nd emails to Lorena Steinbecker were forwarded to our office earlier today. I apologize for any delay in responding to you. Until today, our office had not received a response to the clarification letter that was sent on July 10th.

Now that we have received clarification, we can move forward with the request. First, you have requested the division level operational review audits. It appears that the only information that requires redaction is inmate names, ID numbers, and other identifying information. Before making these redactions, we will provide you with a cost estimate for how much it will cost to produce this information. Assuming you agree to the charges, we will then make the redactions and send you the information. I expect a cost estimate to be sent to you by the end of the week.

Second, you have requested the entire Operational Review Manual. As I indicated in my clarification letter, there are a some portions that would be excepted from disclosure pursuant to section 552.108. This is because some information contained in the Manual reveals detailed step-by-step security measures commonly found in our Post Orders and Security Memorandums. The Office of the Attorney General routinely finds this information to be excepted from disclosure. If you authorize us to make these redactions, then we can redact and send this information to you. If not, we will pursue a ruling from the Attorney General, which will take 45-60 days. Please be advised that if you agree to the redactions, you may submit a follow-up request specifically for the redacted material. This would allow you to receive the vast majority of the information now without having to wait for a ruling from the Attorney General. It is also worth noting that only a small portion of the material would be redacted.

Please respond directly to our office. This will ensure a more timely response and permit me to coordinate our agency’s production of documents.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

Eric K. Miller
Assistant General Counsel
Texas Department of Criminal Justice
P: (936) 437-6002
F: (936) 437-6994

The information contained in this email and any attachments is intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain confidential, privileged, or proprietary information. Any other use of these materials is strictly prohibited. This email may not be forwarded outside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Office of the General Counsel, without the permission of the original sender. If you have received this material in error, please immediately notify me by telephone and destroy all electronic, paper, or other versions.

An interim response, stating the request is being processed.

Mr. King,

Please find attached the cost estimate in regards to the first item listed in your below request.

Regards,
Amy Lee
Legal Assistant II

The information contained in this email and any attachments is intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain confidential, privileged, or proprietary information. Any other use of these materials is strictly prohibited. This email shall not be forwarded outside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Office of the General Counsel, without the permission of the original sender. If you have received this material in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and destroy all electronic, paper, or other versions.

An interim response, stating the request is being processed.

Mr. King,

As you provided no response to the cost estimate, which pertains to the non-confidential information, that portion of your request was withdrawn by operation of law. The remaining confidential information was sent to the Office of the Attorney General to determine the confidentiality of the information. The OAG has 45-55 days to make a determination and respond. Until then, we will not be able to provide any further information to you.

Regards,
Amy Lee
Legal Assistant II

The information contained in this email and any attachments is intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain confidential, privileged, or proprietary information. Any other use of these materials is strictly prohibited. This email shall not be forwarded outside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Office of the General Counsel, without the permission of the original sender. If you have received this material in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and destroy all electronic, paper, or other versions.

Mr. King,

On 09/11 the following email was sent to your attention:

“Mr. King, As you provided no response to the cost estimate, which pertains to the non-confidential information, that portion of your request was withdrawn by operation of law. The remaining confidential information was sent to the Office of the Attorney General to determine the confidentiality of the information. The OAG has 45-55 days to make a determination and respond. Until then, we will not be able to provide any further information to you.”

As stated above it will take 45-55 days for the OAG to respond. Until then , this office will not be able to provide an update on your request.

Amy Lee
Legal Assistant II

The information contained in this email and any attachments is intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain confidential, privileged, or proprietary information. Any other use of these materials is strictly prohibited. This email shall not be forwarded outside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Office of the General Counsel, without the permission of the original sender. If you have received this material in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and destroy all electronic, paper, or other versions.

Mr. King,

As explained in the last email, the confidential portion of your request was submitted to the Office of the Attorney General to provide a ruling. By law the OAG has 45-55 days to determine and get back with us. At this time we have not received a response from the OAG.

Amy Lee
Legal Assistant II

The information contained in this email and any attachments is intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain confidential, privileged, or proprietary information. Any other use of these materials is strictly prohibited. This email shall not be forwarded outside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Office of the General Counsel, without the permission of the original sender. If you have received this material in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and destroy all electronic, paper, or other versions.

The request has been rejected by the agency.

A letter stating the requester must agree to or prepay assessed or estimated fees in order for the agency to continue processing the request.

Mr. King,

The Office of the Attorney General has made a ruling and mailed a copy to your attention. You should be receiving it in the mail soon, if you have not already. Based on the ruling, our office has prepared a cost estimate pertaining to the information that the OAG has deemed releasable to you. It was placed in the mail and sent to your attention earlier this week. Once you receive the estimate, you will need to respond in order for our office to move forward with your request.

Amy Lee
Legal Assistant II

The information contained in this email and any attachments is intended for the exclusive use of the addressee(s) and may contain confidential, privileged, or proprietary information. Any other use of these materials is strictly prohibited. This email shall not be forwarded outside the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Office of the General Counsel, without the permission of the original sender. If you have received this material in error, please notify me immediately by telephone and destroy all electronic, paper, or other versions.