Vernal Coleman v. Department of Correction - Legal Division (SPR 20201197)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 31, 2020 SPR20/1197 Kate Silvia Director of Communications Massachusetts Department of Correction 50 Maple Street Milford, MA 01757 Dear Kate Silvia: I have received the petition of Vernal Coleman of the Boston Globe appealing the response of the Massachusetts Department of Correction (Department) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). Specifically, on April 1, 2020, Mr. Coleman requested eight categories of records concerning the Massachusetts Treatment Center. In a letter dated April 14, 2020, the Department provided Mr. Coleman a response. Unsatisfied by this response, Mr. Coleman petitioned this office and as a result SPR20/1197 was opened. Public Records Law The Public Records Law strongly favors disclosure by creating a presumption that all governmental records are public records. G. L. c. 66, § l0A(d); 950 C.M.R. 32.03(4). “Public records” is broadly defined to include all documentary materials or data, regardless of physical form or characteristics, made or received by any officer or employee of any town of the Commonwealth, unless falling within a statutory exemption. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26). It is the burden of the records custodian to demonstrate the application of an exemption in order to withhold a requested record. G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(iv); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for theNorfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507,511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption). 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. Current Appeal In its April 14th response, the Department writes, “your last request regarding incident reports, there are 900 documents which will need to be reviewed and redacted. Can you please narrow the scope of this request as this is overly broad?” In a follow-up emails dated April 17, 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

Kate Silvia SPR20/1197 Page 2 July 31, 2020 2020 and April 27, 2020, Mr. Coleman modified his request. In his appeal to this office dated July 16, 2020, Mr. Coleman states, “[t]he department did acknowledge receipt of the request, but only to ask that a portion of it be amended. Since that communication, the department has not provided a cost estimate or time frame for fulfillment of the request. Nor has it provided any responsive records.” Subsequent to the intervention by a staff member of the Public Records Division, I learned that the Department is aware of this appeal and is working on a response. Conclusion Accordingly, the Department is ordered to provide Mr. Coleman with a response to the request, provided in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law, and its Regulations as soon as practicable. 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. Further, this office encourages Mr. Coleman and the Department to continue to communicate to facilitate providing records more efficiently and affordably. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(b)(vii)(an agency or municipality shall suggest a reasonable modification of the scope of the request or offer to assist the requestor to modify the scope of the request if doing so would enable the agency or municipality to produce records sought more efficiently and affordably). Any fee estimate by the Department must be in compliance with this determination, the Public Records Law, and its Access Regulations. Sincerely, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Vernal Coleman