MMIW Cases

To Whom It May Concern:

Pursuant to the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, I hereby request the following records:

Data on all cases of deaths in custody involving an Alaska Native/American Indian woman or girl victim within your jurisdiction(s). For the purposes of this request, "Alaska Native/American Indian" is defined as any individual who was identified as a member of an Alaska Native or American Indian community or as having Alaska Native/American Indian heritage. "Woman or girl" includes all victims identified as females, as well as transgender women. We are requesting cases dating from 1900 to the present.

This request is for basic information on cases as classified above. Such information may include but is not limited to victim name, location and date of disappearance/death, age of victim, status of case (solved or unsolved).

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.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. I look forward to receiving your response to this request within 5 business days, as the statute requires.

Please note that I am a citizen of Virginia, and am using MuckRock's services to help manage and track my request.

Sincerely,

Tom Nash

Hello,

We understand that most agencies do not have records available dating to 1900. To clarify, we are requesting records of all deaths in Virginia DOC custody involving a Native female inmate that you are able to provide.

Please note that other agencies have These records are for a comprehensive database of cases of violence and indigenous women in the United States, and will be used to inform policy decisions, community responses, and anti-violence initiatives.

Thank you,
Annita Lucchesi

Hello,

Do you have any guidance on how to modify the request to make it more reasonably specific? Over 100 agencies have responded to similar requests and have not found it too broad to provide records for.

Thank you,
Annita