Lawmakers Restrict Inmate FOI Use

HARTFORD (AP) — Connecticut lawmakers have voted to stop prisoners from using the state’s open government laws to access personnel files of correctional officers and employees of the Board of Pardons and Paroles.

The Senate gave the bill final legislative approval early Tuesday. It now move to Governor M. Jodi Rell’s desk.

State prison officials sought to block inmate access to personnel and medical files of employees because they view such requests as a threat to the safety and security of staff and at the prisons.

The state FOI commission opposed the bill, arguing current law prevents such information from being released under certain circumstances.

Besides inmates, the bill affects patients confined at the maximum-security Whiting Forensic Institute. It blocks access to personnel records of state mental health workers.