Complaints re: and/or originating fr: Lee/Marion/Otter Creek Centers

Dear Ms. Lipton,

The Vermont Department of Corrections ("DOC") received your public records request dated July 24, 2014. Please be advised that, pursuant to 1 V.S.A. § 318(a)(5), the Department is extending the time to respond to your request until at least August 7, 2014. The extension of time is necessary for the reasons set forth in 1 V.S.A. § 318(a)(5)(A)-(C).

Prior to initiating the search for records responsive to your request, I feel compelled to inform you that the scope of your request will result in you incurring significant charges. For reasons discussed below, I anticipate that the cost of the copies of non-exempt records responsive to your request will not be as substantial as the cost of staff time required to comply with you request.

Between January 1, 2000 and July 24, 2014, the DOC exercised custody of or supervised 76,589 individuals. The Department is required to maintain a file for each offender. Among the contents of each offender file are grievances filed by the offender and correspondence from the offender. These are the records most likely to contain the information sought in your request. The content of an offender's file is confidential and not subject to public disclosure. 28 V.S.A. § 601(10). As such, I anticipate that most records which are responsive to your request will be exempt from disclosure under the Access to Public Records Act. See 1 V.S.A. § 317(c)(4). Of course, there may be other records responsive to your request that are not exempt from disclosure.

Although difficult to estimate with precision, I conservatively estimate that complying with your request will require 7,500 hours of staff time. The cost of staff time varies between $.33 per minute and .57 per minute, depending upon the staff member. 7,500 hours of work at the lowest rate of $19.80 per hour would result in a charge to you of $148,500.00. This is the estimate of the cost that will be charged and collected from you for complying with your request. Before proceeding further, I will await written confirmation from you that you desire the DOC to commence its work to comply with your request and your assurance and commitment to paying the charges generated thereby.

Finally, regarding your request that the DOC waive any fees because your records request is motivated by a desire to serve the public interest, the Vermont Access to Public Records Act does not require that an agency consider requester's motivation be considered when determining whether to charge and collect the cost of providing a record and the cost of the staff time associated with complying with the request for a copy a public record. 1 V.S.A. § 316. The DOC does not consider a requester's motive when charging and collecting the costs associated with a public records request.

David Turner
Vermont Department of Corrections

Dear Ms. Lipton,

Sorry for the delay I actually thought I sent this last week.

In response to your email to narrow the parameters of your request I would offer the following information. Vermont currently houses approximately 500 inmates in out of state facilities in Kentucky and Arizona. The Department maintains a file for each offender. If an inmate filed a complaint that referenced, in whole or part, the terms that you outline below I would anticipate that complaint to be filed in the form of a formal grievance, or in a letter written to one of the Department’s staff. Formal grievances and inmate correspondence are kept within the Department’s inmate file. The content of an offender’s file is confidential and not subject to public disclosure pursuant to 28 V.S.A. § 601(10). Therefore, I anticipate that most records which would be responsive to your request will be exempt from disclosure under the Access to Public Records Act. See 1 V.S.A. § 317(c)(4).

Again, it is difficult to estimate with accuracy how much time it might take to review each inmate’s core file, but I conservatively estimate that complying with your request will require 125 hours of staff time. The cost of this time would be, again conservatively, $3,000. The cost of copies would not be significant as I suspect most documents we locate responsive to your request would not be disclosed for the reasons stated above.

The Department does not forward complaints by inmates to the Attorney General. Inmates may write directly to the Attorney General but we would not be the custodian of those records. You would have to make a request to the Office of the Attorney General for records that may be in their possession.

Finally, you ask about databases to help with the search. The department does have an offender database that is used to track offender movement, sentence, case plan progress, etc. and it does have a module on grievances submitted by inmates but the data entered is very basic, (inmate’s name, date submitted, general category (food, case plan, good time, etc.) and the date answered). We could not search this database for complaints such as you request as the actual content of the grievance is not recorded in the database.

As I stated in my previous communication with you I will await written confirmation from you that you desire the DOC to commence its work to comply with your request and your assurance and commitment to paying the charges generated thereby.

David Turner
Vermont Department of Corrections

Attached is the inmate grievance directive for the state of Vermont.

All grievances when they are responded to by Department staff get sent to the inmate and placed in the inmate's core file. Therefore, the grievances become exempt from disclosure as they are part of the inmate's core file.

Does this answer your question?

David Turner
Vermont Department of Corrections