On Fri, Jun 7, 2013 at 9:22 AM, Kennedy, Felicia
<[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> I am planning a meeting with staff from our State Corrections Department
> to go over some of their retention schedules.  All of these were put in
> place before I took this position and I am trying to make the case that
> it's time for a change.  Currently I can't find any justification in the
> files for such lengthy retentions.  I looked at some other states to make
> comparisons.  I am particularly interested in the following:  1) inmate
> case files 2) juvenile records 3) probation & parole.
>


 Seeing as you are with the authority in your state that determines
retention periods, there should be background information available to
determine citations used in the past to set the existing retention
periods.  If these have been researched back to the basis for initially
setting them and there seems to be a question if they were legitimate at
the time, then there may be a reason to look to change them.  If there IS
NO background information to look at, and you have to start from scratch...
then your problem is a bit different.

I'd think the place to start is with those who the records are being used
by to determine how the records are used and if they have had occasions to
review these records 10, 20 or 30 years after they were created. Naturally
there are differing sentences prisoners are serving and the manner in which
juveniles (or the mentally ill) are managed are substantially different.
I'd also have to assume those sentenced to life in prison (and eligible for
parole at some point) are different... as are any that may be subject to
the death penalty (if Maine has that).

The guidance on this Federal Register entry (see BOP-005) indicates that
inmate records are retained for 30 years after they have completed serving
their sentences... and if you do some added digging, you'll find other FR
and DOJ BOP data available.
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2002-05-09/pdf/02-11578.pdf

But I'd also think the Attorney General of your state would have some
guidance to offer here- are prisoners able to file lawsuits regarding their
treatment while incarcerated AFTER they have served their sentences? What
if they were potentially exposed to a hazardous substance, or injured while
in prison and developed a medical condition related to that?  What if they
are arrested again within Maine or another state and past prison records
are sought for use in their case?

In the case of 'exposure records', I know past Federal Employees (or their
surviving family members) are able to seek assistance up to 75 years
following their separation from employment.  Is there some similar
situation with inmates? Or guards?

I understand there are costs associated with retaining these records... and
those costs could be reduced by eliminating them after fewer years... but
if there have been cases where records have been referenced, there may be
justifiable reasons to retain them.  Depending upon the volume and
frequency of access would it be worth considering imaging them (of a
portion of them) and then deleting the hard copy records, or at minimum
improving the indexing of the records and placing them in a storage
facility that is designed to use space in a more efficient manner?

I'd definitely look closely at the retention periods on your juvenile
files... typically, a juvenile file is SEALED once they reach majority age,
unless they serve a portion of their sentence in a juvenile facility and
then are remanded over to an adult facility to serve the balance of their
sentence (which is pretty rare).  But to retain those for 7/18/100 and have
them remain accessible sounds a bit unusual.  How is access controlled to
ensure the records of a juvenile are not improperly accessed once they
reach majority age?

Suffice to say, you have a rather complex situation and whatever decision
you make, my recommendation is it is applied on a "day forward basis" to
all records created AFTER the date your decision is made, and that all
existing/legacy records continue to be maintained based on the retention
periods set when they were generated.  I'd hate to be the Attorney General
that had to explain why records were destroyed prior to the period set for
their retention when they were generated.

Larry
[log in to unmask]

-- 
*Lawrence J. Medina
Danville, CA
RIM Professional since 1972*

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