Policing

Your donations needed: Governor McKee is charging Uprise RI $150 or more for an Access to Public Records Act request

UpriseRI is asking for donations to help cover the cost of this APRA and any future charges the Governor right throw our way.

Rhode Island News: Your donations needed: Governor McKee is charging Uprise RI $150 or more for an Access to Public Records Act request

March 23, 2022, 10:55 am

By Steve Ahlquist

If this cause sounds worthy to you, please consider making a donation.

Last Friday, after weeks of of talking to people both inside and outside the administration of Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee, UpriseRI was able to determine that the Governor was unwilling to direct the Department of Corrections (DOC) to interpret a recently passed law in accordance to legislative intent, thereby preventing the release of several men granted parole.

The reason given for the Governor’s decision? It was an election year.

See: Governor McKee is preventing the release of paroled men convicted as juveniles because “it’s an election year”

The Governor and his staff were unwilling to publicly admit to this of course, but Uprise RI was informed of this stance by several people who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation. We have made the decision to protect them as sources.

On the day the story went public, Uprise RI issued an Access to Public’s Record Act (APRA) request to the Governor’s office, seeking access to any communications between Governor McKee’s Deputy Chief of Staff Kimberly Ahern and advocates, legislators and other public officials regarding juvenile parole and Mario’s Law. Ahern was chosen because of her centrality to the Governor’s staff, reasoning that controversial issues would pass through her office.

After the APRA was sent, Uprise RI received an improper request from the Governor’s office instructing us to refile our APRA request through their public records portal. From Ahern:

I heard back from our Public Records Officer, Doris, and she asked that you follow the below procedures for submitting your request:

Please visit this link https://governor.ri.gov/apra-request which outlines the proper procedure for submitting APRA Requests to the Governor’s Office. The best way to submit a request is by using our Public Records Portal http://www.transparency.ri.gov/apra/ This helps further ensure that your requests are received by the Public Records Office and logged accordingly.

Under the Rhode Island Attorney General‘s interpretation of APRA, UpriseRI’s initial request via an email to Deputy Chief of Staff Ahern was sufficient, so we wrote back:

Hi Kimberly and all,

According to the AG’s policy, my email is more than adequate in terms of an APRA request.

The email stands,

Please comply with the request within ten days.

The letter included the Attorney General Peter Neronha‘s APRA office and his communications director Kristy dosReis.

Uprise RI hrecieved a response yesterday, Tuesday, March 22. The email sent by Governor McKee’s Public Records Officer and Policy Analyst Doris Adesuyi was carefully worded and extremely lawyerly:

In the email Adesuyi estimated that the office has 112 “documents that may be responsive to your request.” [emphasis mine]

To determine this, and to pay for the privilege of having these pages redacted by the Governor’s people before release, “the Governor’s Office estimates a prepayment cost of $150.00 (10 hours x $15.00 per hour).

“Once prepayment is received, without waiving any exemptions under APRA, the Governor’s Office will proceed with your request,” continues Adesuyi. “Please note that payment does not guarantee that the records you have requested constitute public records (in whole or in part, i.e., redacted), but only authorizes this Office to conduct its search, retrieval and review.

In other words, Uprise RI will be paying for these records whether the Governor’s Office decides they are releasable or not, and whether they are pertinent to our request or not. But it doesn’t end there.

Additionally, this estimate is conservative and will be reconciled with the actual time spent. Should actual search, retrieval and/or review fees exceed prepayment, this Office will advise you to seek authorization and prepayment before continuing. Should your prepayment exceed actual costs, you will, of course, be reimbursed. Time will be tolled under APRA until payment is made. Please note that many of the requested records may be withheld from public disclosure pursuant to the exemptions of R.I. Gen. Laws § 38-2-2.

Readers may or may not be aware that Uprise RI is wholly supported through donations from readers who appreciate our work.

The Governor’s office is, right now, playing games with the lives of as many as ten men who are eligible for release under a bill passed last year and signed into law by the Governor’s office that allows men convicted as juveniles to life without parole a chance to be paroled after a thorough Parole Board review.

The Department of Corrections has made the decision to interpret the law in such a way as to make sure that these men, properly paroled, will be held at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) on charges related to their life imprisonment. This was never the intention of the law, and it is well within the power of Governor Daniel McKee to instruct the DOC to interpret the law in accordance with legislative intent, or to use his powers of clemency to release the men after they have been properly paroled.

The Governor has refused to do this because he feels performing these actions will negatively affect his chances of being elected Governor in the next election. He is willing to incarcerate these young men unnecessarily, for political gain. And he is willing to play games with APRA requests. The Governor can at his discretion waive these fees. He could also simply publicly release these records. But he will not.

Uprise RI is asking for donations to help cover the cost of this APRA and any future charges the Governor right throw our way. At some point this effort might require the help of a lawyer, which could be very costly. Also, this initial APRA might open up clues towards the issuance of fury APRAs down the line.

Any money not used in this APRA effort will go towards supporting the mission of Uprise RI (and paying reporter and editor Steve Ahlquist [me]).

But more importantly, there are men, who have been paroled, suffering in prison who have no reason to be there. Our system has passed legislation granting them an opportunity for parole, and some have been paroled – only to find themselves imprisoned for more time. Our Governor is flaunting the law – banking on cruelty being more electable than caring.

If this cause sounds worthy to you, please consider making a donation.