Mar 27, 2018 By The 4 min read

While the Herald-Standard prevailed in a request for sanctions as part of a Right-to-Know Law battle for inmate medical records from the state Department of Corrections (DOC), the newspaper’s attorney said the three-year fight is not one a single person would most likely be able to take on.

“What should concern anyone out there who’s a potential requester in Pennsylvania is the only way to pursue a three-year battle is if you happen to be a corporate requester who can afford to retain competent counsel to pursue public information that otherwise should’ve been produced without this struggle,” newspaper attorney Charles Kelly said Monday.

Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson last week found the DOC was repeatedly non-compliant in releasing requested information under the RTKL, fining the agency $1,500 for continued violations. The civil penalty is the maximum allowed.

Melissa Melewsky, media law counsel for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said Simpson’s award of the maximum amount of sanctions speaks to the importance of compliance with the RTKL.

“The court was absolutely correct that enforcement litigation should not be necessary to ensure agencies comply with their statutory duties under the RTKL. Hopefully, this decision will provide clear guidance to agencies, and more importantly, act as a deterrent to similar RTKL denials,” Melewsky said.

Herald-Standard Publisher Robert Pinarski said the ruling only strengthens the newspaper’s resolve to continue fighting for records, operating as a watchdog for the community.

“We’re fortunate to have the resources to back us in this fight,” he said, “We took this on for the betterment of the community, and after so much time spent fighting for the information, we are elated that Judge Simpson agreed with our position: the DOC continued to withhold information that they should’ve turned over in September 2014, when the initial request was made.”

The DOC denied the newspaper’s initial request, but a state Office of Open Records ruling ordered the agency comply with the requested records. When the DOC failed to produce the records, the Herald-Standard, through Kelly, asked the Commonwealth Court to intervene. A 2016 ruling found the DOC should provide several other pieces requested information, but they again failed to do so, prompting Kelly to ask the court to financially sanction the DOC. In addition to sanctions, Simpson issued a renewed order and time frame in which the DOC must turn over the requested information.

Executive Editor Michael Palm, who testified during the August hearing for sanctions, said the delayed release of records will not inhibit the newspaper’s continued investigation into whether a nearby fly ash dump has impacted the health of the prison population.

“Residents who live in that area have already expressed concerns, and filed suit claiming they have had health issues that could be related to pollutants in the area. The prison is situated nearby as well, and we felt it was important to see if inmates have also seen a consistent spike in any particular ailments,” Palm said.

Kelly said Simpson’s opinion reinforces how important it is to comply with the RTKL.

“I think Judge Simpson should receive credit now because his opinion doesn’t suggest just to the DOC, but to any agency, that there can be consequences for a failure to properly undertake efforts to produce public records to allow for appropriate public debate on public issues,” he said. “The real purpose of the right-to-know law is for requestors to see public records and see how public officials are performing. There should be a complete and thorough response. We do have the right to scrutinize, and our right to do that actually improves the public process,” Kelly said.

“It’s only with an informed citizenry — and that goes back to the Founding Fathers — that we have a properly functioning government,” Kelly said.