$2,000 Statutory Award Boosts Ohio Prisoner’s Total Over $9,000 for Denied Public Records
by David M. Reutter
A $2,000 award of statutory damages by the Supreme Court of Ohio on March 31, 2024, brought the total recovered by Trumball Correctional Institution (TCI) prisoner Kimani Ware for denied public records to at least $9,025. As PLN reported, Ware’s previous trip to the Court was unsuccessful, but in prior mandamus actions for denied public records—all proceeding pro se—the prisoner collected over $7,025. [See: PLN, July 18, 2024, online].
In this case, the Court found two violations of the state Public Records Act (PRA), R.C. 149.43. It declined to find any violation in four other requests that were denied. Ware submitted all six requests to TCI officials between May 29, 2021, and June 23, 2022, seeking records relating to (a) the number of prisoners infected by COVID-19 and (b) visitor policy during the pandemic, as well as (c) a legal mail log, (d) Ware’s master and disciplinary files, (e) an informational handbook on religions and (f) a list of canteen items that increased in price.
When he didn’t get any of the records, Ware filed a mandamus petition. Prison officials moved to dismiss it, arguing that he failed to notify them that the requests were being made under PRA. But the Court found no such requirement in PRA.
Turning to the merits of Ware’s requests, the Court quickly dispensed with four requests. First, it noted an affidavit submitted by TCI Public Information Officer Glenn Booth, showing that Ware received records of COVID-19 infections electronically. Secondly, Booth also provided Ware a copy of the mail logbook, though one heavily redacted. As to requests for visitor policy and religious handbooks, the Court saw that these went to prison officials who were not record custodians; they then referred Ware to the proper authority, but he failed to pursue that avenue of relief. Finding that PRA was satisfied by the direction that Ware was provided, the Court said that holding otherwise could make a groundskeeper with no administrative authority liable for a denial of records.
Ware’s claims relating to the master file, disciplinary records and commissary price increases were deemed to have merit, though. Prison officials contended that the first two were exempt from disclosure, yet they failed to provide a written “explanation, including legal authority, regarding why his request was being denied,” the Court said. Officials also claimed that the canteen request was sent to the wrong person, but the canteen manager referred the request to Booth, who then forwarded it to another TCI official. Yet the records were still not provided to Ware.
Finding two violations of PRA, the court awarded $2,000 in statutory damages—$1,000 for each request that didn’t produce records or a valid reason for denial. Prison officials asked the Court to declare Ware a “vexatious litigator,” but they were denied; the Court noted that he obtained some relief with this mandamus and in five of 13 others filed with Court, plus three out of 15 cases filed in lower courts. Thus, no showing was made that Ware was “habitually, persistently, and without reasonable cause engage[d] in frivolous conduct,” the Court determined. See: Ware v. Ohio Dep’t of Rehab. and Corr., 2024 Ohio Lexis 615.