Petit, Lauren v. Bristol County Sheriff's Office (SPR 20150572)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Shawn A. Williams Supervisor ofR ecords November 25, 2015 SPRlS/572 Ms. Lorraine J. Rousseau, Esq. Office of the Bristol County Sheriff 400 Faunce Comer Road North Dartmouth, MA 02747 Dear Attorney Rousseau: I have received the petition of Lauren Petit, Esq. of Prisoners' Legal Services appealing the response of the Office of the Bristol County Sheriff (BCSO) to her request for public records. G. L. c. 66 § 1O (b ); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(2). Specifically, Attorney Petit requested various records regarding the BCSO' s compliance with the provisions of G. L. c. 127, § 118( a) which concerns the care of pregnant inmates. On April30, 2015, the BCSO provided certain records, however the BCSO responded that it had no records responsive to several of the requests, and Attorney Petit appealed. On July 28, after this appeal was opened, you provided Attorney Petit with a second written response and more responsive records, which included mostly policies of the BCSO Women's Center. Your response states that the BCSO has no records responsive to Attorney Petit's requests numbered 2, 3, 4, 5( d), 5G), 6( a-e). The duty of a custodian of records to comply with requests for information extends only to records that exist and are in the custodian's custody. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26) (defining "public records" as those non-exempt materials made or received by a public employee); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.03 (defining "custodian" as the public employee with routine access to or control of public records). In telephone conversations on August 7 and October 2, 2015 with an attorney on my staff you explained that the BCSO made a diligent search, that the BCSO does not track statistical information regarding pregnant inmates, therefore there are no records responsive to several catergories of the request. You further stated in those conversations with my office that you emailed the facility's Medical Director to ensure at all responsive records have been provided. To date, the Medical Director has not responded to your email inquiries. Therefore, the BCSO has not met its burden of ensuring that Attorney Petit has received all records from the Medical Director and all departments within the BCSO in response to Attorney Petit's requests. OneAshburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 · (617) 727-2832 ·Fax (617) 727-5914 www.sec.state.ma. us/ pre

Ms. Lorraine J. Rousseau, Esq. SPR15/572 Page Two November 25, 2015 Accordingly, whereas the BCSO has not overcome the presumption that all responsive records have been provided, the BCSO is hereby ordered, within ten (1 0) days of this order, to provide Attorney Petit with any additional records held by the BCSO and/or Medical Director. If the BCSO maintains that any portion of the responsive records are exempt from disclosure it must, within ten (1 0) days provide to Attorney Petit a written explanation, with specificity, how a particular exemption applies to each record. To meet the specificity requirement a custodian must not only cite an exemption, but must also state why the exemption applies to the withheld or redacted portion of the responsive record. A copy of any such response must be provided to this office. It is preferable to send an electronic copy of this response to this office at pre@,sec.state.ma.us. If there are any fees associated with this response a written, good faith estimate must be provided. G. L. c. 66, § 1O (a); see also 950 C.M.R. 32.06(2) (where cost of complying with a request for public records is expected to exceed ten dollars ($10.00), custodian of records shall provide written good faith estimate). Once the fees are paid, you must provide the responsive records. cc: Ms. Lauren Petit, Esq.