The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the state Department of Corrections have settled a legal dispute about records dealing with inmate housing at Santa Rosa Correctional Institution in the Panhandle.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit in August against the department, claiming the agency had rejected public-records requests that involved computerized information about housing assignments and cell or bunk assignments.
But in a settlement dated Monday, the department agreed to provide in an electronic format any number of “bed run” reports requested by the ACLU. Also, the state agreed to pay $4,000 in legal fees and costs.
In a prepared statement Wednesday, ACLU attorney Benjamin Stevenson said the settlement “signals a policy change. The department should no longer refuse the ACLU or any other Floridian’s request to extract public information from its databases.”