Ruling: County must make prison receipts public
January 13, 2010 | Filed in: RTK request
stories | Open
records | Right to Know
Law | Lackawanna
Co.
BY CHARLES SCHILLINGER
The [Scranton] Times-Tribune
Lackawanna County must obtain and provide to The Times-Tribune any receipts and invoices related to the cost of medical care at Lackawanna County Prison between November 2004 and November 2009, the state Office of Open Records has ruled.
Unless challenged by the county, the ruling compels the county to continue its pursuit of records from a previous contract with prison medical care vendor Correctional Care Inc.
The county sued Correctional Care in September to compel the release of detailed financial records to justify monthly payments of $143,660 the county paid the vendor. The suit was also necessary to comply with an Office of Open Records ruling that mandated the county turn over financial records related to county prison pharmacy services to Joseph Rogan, Ed.D., the president of the local Catholic human rights advocacy group, Pax Christi.
In November, the county agreed to a confidentiality agreement that would give county officials access to Correctional Care financial records with the understanding the officials would not discuss, take notes or make copies of the records.
The Times-Tribune filed a Right-to-Know request seeking the public release of the records. When the county denied the request on the grounds it did not have the records, The Times-Tribune appealed the denial to the state Office of Open Records.
County solicitor John O'Brien and county commissioners have said the county has no intention of dropping its suit seeking all necessary financial records from Correctional Care. But while the county was obligated by the Office of Open Records to go after specific records Pax Christi had requested, the county had no similar obligation to make public all other financial records that would back up payments made to Correctional Care.
The Jan. 8 ruling on The Times-Tribune request by the Office of Open Records changes that, ordering the county to compel Correctional Care to release financial records related to medical care provided to the prison.
A new three-year contract with Correctional Care approved by the county requires the vendor to provide detailed records going forward. But Mr. O'Brien said he is uncertain how the county will obtain and review $8.6 million in receipts from the last five years.
"Our intent is to provide records when we can, and I think we're pretty good at it," Mr. O'Brien said. "But my biggest concern with this is there's five years' worth of expenses here, and there's the onerous nature of going back through them all."
Efforts to reach Edward Zaloga, M.D., owner of Correctional Care, were unsuccessful.
The county has 30 days to appeal the ruling to Lackawanna County Court. Mr. O'Brien said he had not yet reviewed the ruling and could not comment on what action the county will take.
In a defining case in September, Lackawanna County Judge Terrence R. Nealon ruled in favor of The Times-Tribune, saying that records of an agency vendor are public if the vendor is performing a government function.
Judge Nealon ruled that SWB Yankees, the management group that operates Lackawanna County's minor-league baseball team and stadium, cannot keep its bids and contracts with concessionaires secret from taxpayers and must turn them over to the newspaper. The court case remains in appeal before Commonwealth Court.
The [Scranton] Times-Tribune
Lackawanna County must obtain and provide to The Times-Tribune any receipts and invoices related to the cost of medical care at Lackawanna County Prison between November 2004 and November 2009, the state Office of Open Records has ruled.
Unless challenged by the county, the ruling compels the county to continue its pursuit of records from a previous contract with prison medical care vendor Correctional Care Inc.
The county sued Correctional Care in September to compel the release of detailed financial records to justify monthly payments of $143,660 the county paid the vendor. The suit was also necessary to comply with an Office of Open Records ruling that mandated the county turn over financial records related to county prison pharmacy services to Joseph Rogan, Ed.D., the president of the local Catholic human rights advocacy group, Pax Christi.
In November, the county agreed to a confidentiality agreement that would give county officials access to Correctional Care financial records with the understanding the officials would not discuss, take notes or make copies of the records.
The Times-Tribune filed a Right-to-Know request seeking the public release of the records. When the county denied the request on the grounds it did not have the records, The Times-Tribune appealed the denial to the state Office of Open Records.
County solicitor John O'Brien and county commissioners have said the county has no intention of dropping its suit seeking all necessary financial records from Correctional Care. But while the county was obligated by the Office of Open Records to go after specific records Pax Christi had requested, the county had no similar obligation to make public all other financial records that would back up payments made to Correctional Care.
The Jan. 8 ruling on The Times-Tribune request by the Office of Open Records changes that, ordering the county to compel Correctional Care to release financial records related to medical care provided to the prison.
A new three-year contract with Correctional Care approved by the county requires the vendor to provide detailed records going forward. But Mr. O'Brien said he is uncertain how the county will obtain and review $8.6 million in receipts from the last five years.
"Our intent is to provide records when we can, and I think we're pretty good at it," Mr. O'Brien said. "But my biggest concern with this is there's five years' worth of expenses here, and there's the onerous nature of going back through them all."
Efforts to reach Edward Zaloga, M.D., owner of Correctional Care, were unsuccessful.
The county has 30 days to appeal the ruling to Lackawanna County Court. Mr. O'Brien said he had not yet reviewed the ruling and could not comment on what action the county will take.
In a defining case in September, Lackawanna County Judge Terrence R. Nealon ruled in favor of The Times-Tribune, saying that records of an agency vendor are public if the vendor is performing a government function.
Judge Nealon ruled that SWB Yankees, the management group that operates Lackawanna County's minor-league baseball team and stadium, cannot keep its bids and contracts with concessionaires secret from taxpayers and must turn them over to the newspaper. The court case remains in appeal before Commonwealth Court.