Ria Guerra-Norris v. Massachusetts Parole Board (SPR 20211537)

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts William Francis Galvin, Secretary of the Commonwealth Public Records Division Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records July 2, 2021 SPR21/1537 Stacy D. Book Compliance Officer – Records Access Officer Massachusetts Parole Board 12 Mercer Road Natick, MA 01760 Dear Ms. Book: I have received the petition of Ria Guerra-Norris appealing the response of the Massachusetts Parole Board (Board) to a request for public records. G. L. c. 66, § 10A; see also 950 C.M.R. 32.08(1). On May 17, 2021, Ms. Guerra-Norris was provided with responsive records to a request. However, in a May 17th email Ms. Guerra-Norris inquired, “…where could I find a list of all parolees (more so the numbers) that’s been released to the [R]egion 4 office for supervision between the same period broken down by race? Any data I found was outdated.” The Board provided Ms. Guerra-Norris with some of the information. Additionally, Ms. Guerra-Norris requested: “[t]he number of Parolees that: “(a) had their parole revoked and/or provisionally revoked by the team at the Region 4 Parole Office; (b) broken down by race; (c) starting from February 2018 thru May 5th 2021; (c) starting from February 2018 thru May 5th 2021. Additionally, this should include any lifers that were released on parole; and (e) should not include any data such as their name, the nature of their crime nor the reasons for …” In response to Ms. Guerra-Norris’s request, the Board provided two tables showing the number of: “revocations for non-life sentence parolees due to a violation that occurred between February 1…Parolees may be counted multiple times in this analysis if their parole was revoked more than this period. Race/ethnicity data is based on information provided by the correctional facility. Often Hispanic or Latino ethnicity are categorized as such for their race/ethnicity in the following table.” Ms. Guerra-Norris petitioned the Supervisor of Records (Supervisor) seeking additional information pertaining to her request. She states, “…my request was very specific in that I asked for the number of parolees (not the number of revocations), however I received records that were modified.” 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

Stacy D. Book SPR21/1537 Page 2 July 2, 2021 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, § 10A(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) (written response must “identify any records, categories of records or portions of records that the agency or municipality intends to withhold, and provide the specific reasons for such withholding, including the specific exemption or exemptions upon which the withholding is based…”); 950 C.M.R. 32.06(3); see also Dist. Attorney for the Norfolk Dist. v. Flatley, 419 Mass. 507, 511 (1995) (custodian has the burden of establishing the applicability of an exemption Based on Ms. Guerra-Norris’s request and the Board’s response to her request, it is unclear whether the Board has additional records or information that are responsive to Ms. Guerra-Norris’s request. The duty to comply with requests for records extends to those records that exist and are in the possession, custody, or control of the custodian of records at the time of the request. See G. L. c. 66, § 10(a)(ii). Further, custodians are expected to use their superior knowledge of the records in their custody to assist requestors in obtaining the desired information. See 950 C.M.R. 32.04(5). Therefore, it is unclear whether the Board could have directed Ms. Guerra-Norris to any records or information responsive to her request that were readily available to the public, such as a website or other public platform, and whether the Board has additional records responsive to her request. I find that the Board must clarify these issues. Conclusion Accordingly, the Board is ordered to provide Ms. Guerra-Norris with a response to the request, in a manner consistent with this order, the Public Records Law and its Regulations within 10 business days. 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, Rebecca S. Murray Supervisor of Records cc: Stacy Book