Autopsies and CPRA
Q: I need to verify the number of individuals in attendance at autopsies of CDC incarcerated persons in my county (for a parking/zoning issue). Are autopsy attendance records of prisoners open? How may they be obtained? I don\’t feel I can ask for this info from the local M.E. (politics). Is there another route?
A: To the extent the identity of individuals who attend autopsies is reflected in written records, you may be able to obtain those records under the California Public Records Act. Under the Act, records that are collected, owned, maintained or used by state or local agencies are presumptively public and open to inspection (and available for copying,
normally for the cost of duplication) unless one of the Act’s exemptions to disclosure applies.
The first step would be to submit a Public Records Act request to the agenc(ies) that you think may have relevant records. Your request does not have to be in writing, but if you do put it in writing, and the agency denies your request, they must provide you with written notification of the reasons for their denial (Government Code section 6255).
If you do not know the name of the record, or do not know for sure whether it exists, you can frame your request generally, by stating that you are requesting any records that would identify individuals who attended autopsies. A sample PRA request can be found on the CFAC web site:
http://www.cfac.org/templates/cpraletter.html
Although I am not aware of any per se exemption to disclosure that would apply to the records you are seeking, the agency may nevertheless argue that one or more exemptions applies. As a first step, however, you should make the request.