Jail Files of Prisoner Suicide

Jail Files of Prisoner Suicide

Q: I want to investigate the suicide of man in the county jail. Can I get access to his files at the public defender and district attorney offices now that he is dead? Or are they still exempt from the CPRA?

A: Under the California Public Records Act, Government Code section 6250 et seq., records maintained by public agencies are presumptively available for public inspection and copying unless one of the Act’s exemptions applies.  In this case, that exemption that likely applies is found in section 6254(f), which exempts “records of investigations” as well as “investigatory files” held by law enforcement agencies.  Unfortunately, the California Supreme Court has held that this exemption operates to bar disclosure of the investigatory file even after the investigation ends and there is no further prospect of enforcement.  See Williams v. Superior Court, 5 Cal. 4th 227 (1993).

However, even though a law enforcement agency can withhold various investigation-related records, Government Code section 6254(f) provides that “state and local law enforcement agencies shall disclose the names and addresses of persons involved in, or witnesses other than confidential informants to, the incident, the description of any property involved, the date, time, and location of the incident, all diagrams, statements of the parties involved in the incident, the statements of all witnesses, other than confidential informants, to the victims of an incident” and similar information.  Law enforcement agencies “shall [also] make public . . . the full name and occupation of every individual arrested by the agency, the individual’s physical description including date of birth, color of eyes and hair, sex, height and weight, the time and date of arrest, the time and date of booking, the location of the arrest, the factual circumstances surrounding the arrest, the amount of bail set, the time and manner of release or the location where the individual is currently being held, and all charges the individual is being held upon, including any outstanding warrants from other jurisdictions and parole or probation holds.”  In other words, police are not only allowed to but are actually obligated to disclose information related to investigations (subject to certain exemptions) even though they need not disclose the actual investigation records.

From the information in your submission, it is not clear whether you have asked and were denied the records you seek.  If not, I suggest you submit a request under the Public Records Act.  A sample PRA request is available on CFAC’s website at the following link:
http://www.cfac.org/templates/cpraletter.html.