VIRGINIA FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT. JAIL REGISTER OR LIST OF THOSE INCARCERATED SUBJECT TO DISCLOSURE UNDER PROVISIONS OF ACT, EXCEPT FOR NAMES OF JUVENILES ARRESTED AND CHARGED.

May 8, 1984

The Honorable Lawrence W. Simpson, Jr.,
Sheriff for the City of Lynchburg

83-84 446A

This is in response to your request for my opinion whether the news media may inspect the jail register or list which contains the names of those incarcerated in the facility. The applicable law is the Virginia Freedom of Information Act, § 2.1-340 through § 2.1-346.1 of the Code of Virginia (the "Act").

The same inquiry was addressed by this Office in a prior Opinion found in the 1974-1975 Va. AG 583. That opinion held, based upon the law which existed at the time, that a county sheriff's jail book is an "official record" for purposes of the Act and would be subject to the public disclosure requirements pursuant to § 2.1-342(a), unless specifically exempt under one of the provisions of § 2.1-342(b). The opinion further held that no exemption or exception applied and, therefore, the news media and public were entitled to disclosure pursuant to the Act.

Since that opinion, the General Assembly amended § 2.1-342(b) to codify the holding of the 1975 opinion except as to juveniles. As amended, § 2.1-342(b) now reads in pertinent part:

"The following records are excluded from the provisions of this chapter: (1) Memoranda, correspondence, evidence and complaints related to criminal investigations . . . and all records of persons imprisoned in penal institutions in this Commonwealth provided such records relate to the said imprisonment. Information in the custody of law-enforcement officials relative to the identity of any individual other than a juvenile who is arrested and charged and the status of the charge of arrest, shall not be excluded from the provisions of this chapter." (Emphasis added.)

In summary, it is my opinion that the jail register or list of those incarcerated is subject to disclosure under § 2.1-342(a) and § 2.1-342(b)(1) of the Act. The only applicable exemption is that portion of § 2.1-342(b)(l) which excludes the names of juveniles who have been arrested and charged.