Secrecy costs $541,000 in WA.

• Author: Swartz, Nikki
• Position: UP FRONT - Brief article

Withholding public records will cost Washington's Department of Corrections $541,000--the largest penalty of its kind slapped on a public agency in the state.

In June, Thurston County Superior Court approved the settlement ordering the department to pay the huge sum to a small inmate-rights publication and its attorneys. According to The News Tribune, the department violated Washington's Public Disclosure Act (PDA) when it denied an inmate's request for documents detailing disciplinary actions taken against prison medical providers and the providers' names.

The inmate, founder of Prison Legal News, a small-circulation newspaper addressing prison issues, was investigating who had treated 10 inmates who later were found seriously injured or dead.

Even though the state Supreme Court ruled in favor of Prison Legal News last...