Robert Cantell v. Department of Correction - Legal Division (SPR 20180074)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division

Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records

January 18, 2018

SPR18/074 Robert Cantell

Dear Mr. Cantell:

I have received your petition appealing the response of Department of Correction (Department) to your request for public records. The requirements for an appeal are follows:

Such appeal shall be in writing, and shall include a copy of the letter by which the request was made, and if possible, a copy of the custodian’s response. The Supervisor shall accept an appeal only from a person who had made his or her request in writing. An oral request, while valid as a public records request pursuant to 950 CMR 32.05 (3), may not be the basis for an appeal under 950 CMR 32.08.

When filing your petition for an appeal with this office, you had provided a copy of the original request, however you did not provide a copy of the Department’s response, nor did you specify what aspect of the Department’s response is being appealed. All petitions for appeal shall be in writing and shall specifically describe the nature of the requester’s objections to the response or failure to issue a timely response. 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1)(f). However, based on your correspondence, it is unclear what the basis of your appeal is. Please feel free to re-submit your appeal when you have specifically described the nature of your objections.

Sincerely,

Rebecca S. a. Ma

Supervisor of Records

cc: Robert Cantell

One Ashburton Place, Room 1719, Boston, Massachusetts 02108 ¢ (617) 727-2832 Fax: (617) 727-5914 sec.state.ma.us/pre * pre@sec.state.ma.us