December 15, 2020

Erin Foley, Records Management Liaison Officer
2601 West Broward Blvd
Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33312

Dear Officer Foley,

I request, pursuant to the state open records law Fla. Stat. Secs. 119.01 to 119.15, copies of the following documents:

I request, pursuant to the state open records law Fla. Stat. Secs. 119.01 to 119.15, copies of the following documents:

• Call Commission Reports from Securus Technologies for the County Jail for the most recent three months available. If your commission reports are for time periods other than monthly, i.e. weekly or quarterly, the three most recent of that time period would be acceptable.
• Copies of the Call Commission Reports for the same time period as above but one year prior.

Flexibility on when records are from In this case, we needed to compare Call Commission Reports over time, but it wasn’t important to us whether we were comparing between weeks, months, or quarters. Providing flexibility up front can reduce denials.

I know some counties might call it by another name internally, so for clarification, a “Call Commission Report” that I’m asking for is something that looks like this example from Polk County, Iowa: https://www.prisonpolicy.org/scans/iowa_foia/polk_apr2019_commissions.pdf

Including document examples This request includes an example of what you’re looking for to make it easier for the official to find it. Contracted companies, such as Securus in this case, usually have similar paperwork from facility to facility, so you can use examples from other places to help explain what it is you’re looking for. It makes it easier for an official to confirm that they’ve found what you’re looking for even if the name of the document might be different in that particular county.

If your Department does not maintain these public records, please let me know who does and include the proper custodian’s name and address.

I request a waiver of all fees because the information is not being sought for commercial purposes and its disclosure is in the public interest and will contribute significantly to the public’s understanding of costs associated with the inmate calling services and how call volume has changes over time. However, if you cannot honor the waiver, please inform me if the cost will exceed $25.00, otherwise invoice me with the records.

I hope to receive your response within 10 business days.

Request a response timeline Florida, like many states, does not set strict timelines for records requests; it simply notes that an “unreasonable delay” can be considered a denial. If you are in a state like Florida, all you can do is politely request a timeframe and hope the agency honors it. In a state that does have a strict timeline, you can afford to be more forceful: e.g. “I expect to hear back from you with a response or denial within 5 business days as required by statute”

If you choose to deny this request, please provide a written explanation for the denial including a reference to the specific statutory exemption(s) upon which you rely. If a portion of these documents are exempt from disclosure, I assume you will provide all segregable portions.

If you have any questions about this request, please do not hesitate to contact me at [email] or [phone number].

Thank you for your assistance.

Sincerely,
Aleks Kajstura
Sr. Policy & Advocacy Analyst

Email to: docpublicrecords@doc.la.gov
Subject: Public Records Act request: heat mitigation policies

Hello,

This is a public records request pursuant to the Louisiana Public Records Act (LSA-R.S. 44:1, et seq.).

I am requesting a copy of any policies or directives regarding cooling or heat mitigation for housing and staff areas. I am requesting the full policies, including any and all attachments.

Broad but not too broad You don’t need to know the name of a document to request it. You can simply describe the document by what it contains or request all documents on a certain topic. When taking this approach, it’s important to be as specific as possible about the type of document you’re looking for, otherwise, the request will be too broad. In this case we’re asking for “policies” or “directives”.
If we had instead asked for “all documents related to cooling or heating,” that might turn up invoices for HVAC repairs or meal recipes – such a broad request would likely trigger search fees and the results would be effectively spamming ourselves.

To give some context for my request, I am trying to find out whether Louisiana requires that thermostats measure temperature in cells or only in common areas. I realize that the records request law does not require that you answer that question for me, but I hope that the context will help give you an idea of the policies I’m looking for.

Providing your question for context As we’ve noted, records request laws do not require the government to answer questions that you ask. However, there’s often no downside to putting your cards on the table about what you’re looking for; it can help a well-meaning agency representative understand what you’re really looking for, and may smooth the way in conversations about how to narrow your request.

The requested documents will be made available to the general public, and this request is not being made for commercial purposes.

In the event that there are fees, I would be grateful if you would inform me of the total charges in advance of fulfilling my request. I would prefer the request filed electronically, by email attachment if available, or CD-ROM if not.

Thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation in this matter. If you need to discuss my request, please contact me at [email] or call me at [phone number].

I look forward to receiving your response within 3 days, as required by statute.

Thanks,
Aleks

Gregory J. Vrato, Esq.,
Director of Policy Compliance & Legal Affairs
7901 State Rd, Philadelphia, PA 19136
(215) 685-7840

Hi Greg,

I’m requesting the following data from the Department of Prisons, pursuant to the Right-to-Know Law (Act 3 of 2008, 65 P.S. §§ 67.101 et seq.).

For each person in the Department’s custody on April 1, 2026, or any date of the Department’s convenience between April 1 and May 1 of that year, please provide the following information:
• Date booked
• Race or ethnicity
• Sex or gender
• Age or date of birth

Data point flexibility This is a data request with some flexibility built in - age or date of birth, for example. Every computer system is a bit different, so if you have some flexibility in the information you’re looking for you can make the request much easier to fulfill if you’re up front about the specifics that matter and the specifics that don’t. In this example, we’d like data for April 1, but really anything around there is good enough. For example, if the system only reports that data once per month, or weekly, we’ll just take it for whatever date it’s easily available for.

I am seeking this data in spreadsheet/excel file, preferably sent as an email attachment, or on a CD-ROM if email is not available.

I believe these fields are included in the Department’s internal computer system, but please let me know if I am mistaken. I don’t intend to request anything that is not easy to produce from the computer system or which would require an individualized search of records. Please contact me if there is a particular data point that is onerous to obtain so that I can revise my request accordingly.

Inviting compromises We flag that these are the fields we asked for because we believe they’re easily accessible – we don’t want to turn this into a complex request that could take months to fulfill. This approach makes it more likely that we get a fast response - either with the information we’re looking for or to figure out how to adjust the request to get as much as we can based on their specific records system.

I expect the data to be anonymized, but please let me know if you require a data-sharing agreement. I look forward to receiving your response within 3 days, as required by statute.

Avoiding privacy issues We also ask for names to be removed – this avoids privacy issues and the need for data sharing agreements. It also lets them know we expect the names to be redacted or missing so that the request isn’t denied on privacy grounds.

I request a waiver of all fees because the information is not being sought for commercial purposes and its disclosure is in the public interest. However, if you cannot honor the waiver, please inform me if the cost will exceed $25.00, otherwise invoice me with the records.

I can be reached at [email] or [phone number].

Thanks,
Aleks