William McDonagh v. Bristol County Jail & House of Correction (SPR 20190853)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor ofR ecords May 13, 2019 SPR19/0853 Lorraine J. Rousseau, Esq. Bristol County Sheriff's Office 400 Faunce Corner Road North Dartmouth, MA 02747 Dear Attorney Rousseau: · I have received the petition of William McDonagh appealing the nonresponse of the Bristol County Sheriff's Office (Office) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § lOA; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, Mr. McDonagh requested identified records and documents relating to the Bristol County Jail and House of Correction facilities. Under the Public Records Law and the Access Regulations (Regulations) all requests for public records must be met with a response within 10 business days of receipt of the request. G. L. c. 66, § IO(a)-(b). The response may contain, among other things, an offer to provide records, a fee estimate for provision of the records, or a denial. G. L. c. 66, § 1 O(b ). All records custodians must comply with both the Public Records Law and the Regulations with respect to the timeliness of response. As of the date of this letter, it is my understanding that the Office has not provided Mr. McDonagh a response to his request for records. Order Accordingly, the Office is ordered to provide Mr. McDonagh with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations without delay. 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. Sincerely, ~~ Supervisor of Records cc: Vvilliam McDonagh 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