FLORlDA
DEPARTMENT of

CORRECTIONS

Governor

CHARLIE CRIST
Secretary
An Equal Opportunity Employer

WALTER A. McNEIL

260 I Blair Stone Road' Tallahassee, FL 32399-2500

http://www.dc.state.f1.us

May 26, 2009
Jessica Dodson
Office of Open Government
The Executive Office of the Governor
PL04 The Capitol
Tallahassee, FI 32399

Re:

Edward Early, #559797, Public Records Requestfor Audio Recordings

Dear Ms. Dodson:
Per your request, please find enclosed copies of letters sent to attorney James Cook in response to
his request for audio recordings related to DOC Inspector General Investigation # 08-20694.
Please let me know if you need anything further.
Sincerely,

~ptrf~
Philip A. Fowler
Assistant General Counsel
Florida Department of Corrections
Tel: (850) 488-2326
Fax: (850) 922-4355
Enclosures

FLORlDA
DEPARTMENT of
CORRECTIONS

Governor

CHARLIE CRIST
Secretary

An Equal Opportunity Employer

WALTER A. McNEIL

260 I Blair Stone Road· Tallahassee, FL 32399·2500

http://www.de.state.fl.us

April 1, 2009
James V. Cook, Attorney at Law
Post Office Box 10021
Tallahassee, Florida 32302
Re:

Edward Early, #559797, Public Records Request

Dear Mr. Cook:
I am in receipt of your March 29,2009 letter relating to the above request. I have obtained a
more accurate cost estimate for the transcription of the audio recordings relating to Inspector
General Case Number 08-20694. As noted inl11y prior correspondence, the recordings of the
witness statements must be transcribed for review and any necessary redaction by Department
staff. The 103 minutes of audio equate to approximately 80 pages. At $4.10 per page for
transcription, a cost of $328.00 is to be expected for transcription alone. An additional cost of
$33.32 would be imposed for the review and redaction of said documents. This amount is
calculated by assuming 1 minute per page for review by an employee whose salary is $25.06 per
hour, as follows:
80 minutes / 60 = 1.33 hours
1.33 hours X 25.06 = $ 33.32
Therefore, the revised cost estimate for transcription and review is $ 361.32. If you wish to
proceed with obtaining redacted copies of the transcribed statements, please advise.
Thank you for your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,

Philip A. Fowler
Assistant General Counsel
cc:

Leslie Rodes

FLORIDA
DEPARTMENT of
CORRECTIONS

Governor

CHARLIE CRIST
Secretary
An Equal Opportunity Employer

2601 Blair Stone Road· Tallahassee, FL 32399·2500

., WALTER A. McNEIL
http://wwwdc.stateflus

January 28, 2009

James V. Cook, Attorney at Law
Post Office Box 10021
Tallahassee, Florida 32302

Also by hand delivery on this date to 314 W Jefferson Street, Tallahassee, Florida.

Re:

Edward Early, #559797, Public Records Request

Dear Mr. Cook:
We are in receipt of your January 18, 2009 letter regarding your prior record request relating to
inmate Edward Early, DC# 559797. Previously, a copy ofInvestigation 08·20694 was provided
to you by the Inspector General's Office with redactions made pursuant to chapter 119 and
945.1 0 of the Florida Statutes. You have now provided a DC4-711 B health information release
signed by inmate Early. In light of this fact, I reviewed the investigation and am attaching a
second redacted copy that does not conceal inmate Early's protected health information. Please
note that some redactions were made to this second copy; employee dates of birth have been
redacted pursuant to s. 945.1 0 (1)(e), Fla. Stat. Employee medical information has been redacted
pursuant to s. 119.071 (4)(b), Fla. Stat. No other statutory exemptions apply to the redactions
made to the attached copy.
Also in your January 18 letter, you confirm your request for video and audio recordings that were
referenced in the investigation report. With respect to the "hand-held and fixed security" video
footage, the Department objects to the production of the video tapes on the grounds that the tapes
disclose sensitive infonnation related to the institution's physical security [a security system plan
as defined in § 119.071 (3)(a), Florida Statutes.] A security system plan for a state agency as
defined in s. 119.071(3)(a), F.S., or a portion thereof, is confidential and exempt from s.
119.07(1) and s. 24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. See § 119.071(3), Fla. Stat.; see also §
281.301, Fla. Stat. In addition, the video tapes contain information depicting the internal layout
and structural elements of the correctional institution and infonnation revealing surveillance
tec1miques, procedures and personnel. Such infonnation is exempt from s. 119.07(1) and s.
24(a), Art. I of the State Constitution. See § 119.071(3)(b) and § 119.071(2)(d), Fla. Stat.
Additionally, the video tapes may contain clear views of the faces of individual identifiable
correctional officers and may contain information which if released would jeopardize a person's
safety. See § 119.071(4)(d)1. and § 945.10(1)(e), Fla. Stat.

January 28, 2009

2

In light of the statutory exemptions listed above, the Department is unable to disclose the video
tapes referenced in the investigation report and therefore, will not provide a cost estimate for
copying the tapes.
With respect to the recordings of the witness statements, those recordings must be transcribed for
review and any necessary redaction by Department staff. A transcription service is being
consulted for an accurate estimate but, based on previous transcription estimates the DepaIiment
has obtained for inmate telephone call recordings, a rough estimate for transcription of the
recordings in this matter is $563.34. (Approximately 103 minutes of footage works out to
approximately 137.4 pages at $4.10 per page.) If after receiving a redacted transcript, you would
like a copy of the audio recording, an additional charge would be required for having the
recording electronically redacted. As previously noted, a more accurate transcription estimate is
currently being prepared and will be forwarded to your attention once complete.

.

Thank you fOf your consideration of this matter.
Sincerely,

~

Philip A. Fowler
Assistant General Counsel

Enclosures
cc:

Inspector General's Office

STATE OF fLORlDA

<l&ffite of tbe

~oberl1or

THE CAPITOL
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA 32399-000 1
CHARLIE CRIST
GOVERNOR

www.ftgov.com
850-488-7146
850-487-0801 fax

June 1, 2009
Mr. James V. Cook
Post Office Box 10021
Tallahassee, Florida 32302
Dear Mr. Cook:
This letter is in response to your letter to Mr. Philip Fowler on May 3, 2009, which
you forwarded to the Governors attention. In the letter mentioned above, you state:
"You have severely redacted descriptions of use of force injuries suffered by inmates on
the basis that it was protected health information under HIPPA. You have absolutely
refused to provide copies of hand-held or fixed video recordings of uses of force on the
basis that release would endanger the security operations of the prisons and expose the
faces of prison staff (who otherwise appear regularly in FDOC news release photos)."
We defer to the Florida Department of Correction's Legal Counsel for
interpretation of Chapter 119, Florida Statutes relating to security system plans. Thank
you.

oAnn Carrin
Director, Office of Open Government
CC: Philip Fowler
Dottie Ridgway