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Compilations of criminal histories by the Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center (ACJIC) are available to only those persons with a “right to know” or “need to know” as determined by the ACJIC Commission. Op. Att'y Gen. Ala. No. 2005-042, 2005 Ala. AG LEXIS 9 (Jan. 18, 2005); Ala. Code §§ 41-9-590 et seq. (2000); Ala. Code § 41-9-636 to 642 (2000); 4 Ala. Admin. Code chapter 265-X-2 (Supp. June 30, 1994). Criminal history information from the Alabama Department of Public Safety is not a matter of public record and is not open to public inspection without the written permission of the individual whose criminal history is sought. Ala. Code § 32-2-61(a) (1999).
Alabama
There is statutory or case law authority for closure of the following records regarding crime victims:
a. Court file regarding crime victim’s petition hearing that reveals the victim’s address, telephone number, place of employment, and related information. Ala. Code § 15-23-69 (1995).
b. Crime Victims Compensation Commission reports and information obtained from law enforcement officers and agencies. Ala. Code § 15-23-5 (1995).
c. Child abuse reports and records. Ala. Code § 26-14-8(c) (Supp. 2005); see also Birmingham News Co. v. Hornsby, CV 94-103 TH (Cir. Ct. of Montgomery County, Ala., Mar. 18, 1994).
d. Complainant identification on arrest reports. Birmingham News Co. v. Deutcsh, CV 85-504-132 JDC (Cir. Ct. of Jefferson County, Ala., Equity Div., Aug. 19, 1986).
Alabama Attorney General opinions have approved closure of information gathered about a crime victim who is also a witness to a crime. Op. Att'y Gen. Ala. No. 2000-225, 2000 Ala. AG LEXIS 166 (Aug. 30, 2000); Op. Att'y Gen. Ala. No. 2000-203, 2000 Ala. AG LEXIS 136 (Aug. 8, 2000).
Alabama
Rule 3.9 of the Alabama Rules of Criminal Procedure protects the identity of confidential informants when sworn testimony is taken to support the issuance of a search warrant. In addition, the final order in Deutcsh permits redaction of witness identification from arrest reports, Birmingham News Co. v. Deutcsh, CV 85-504-132 JDC (Cir. Ct. of Jefferson County, Ala., Equity Div., Aug. 19, 1986) (consent order), and the decision in Stone permits closure of records regarding pending criminal investigations and recorded information received by a public officer in confidence, Stone v. Consolidated Publishing Co., 404 So. 2d 678 (Ala. 1981).
Alabama
There is no statutory or case law addressing this issue. The Alabama Criminal Justice Information Center's Law Enforcement Officers' Handbook, however, states that a law enforcement agency may redact information from Alabama Uniform Incident/Offense Reports that "would reveal investigatory techniques." See ACJIC, Law Enforcement Officers' Handbook (August 2006), available at http://www.acjic.alabama.gov/documents/law_handbook.pdf.
Alabama
A mug shot in a police computer database is a public record. Op. Att'y Gen. Ala. No. 2004-108, 2004 Ala. AG LEXIS 35 (Apr. 1, 2004).
State law requires each sheriff to keep in the sheriff’s office, subject to public inspection during office hours, a well-bound book in which must be entered a description of each prisoner received into the county jail. Ala. Code § 36-22-8 (2001).
Alabama
Sex offender registration records have been made expressly confidential by statute. Ala. Code § 15-20-5 (Supp. 2010).
Alabama
There is no statutory or case law addressing this specific issue. As of April 21, 2010, however, an audio recording of a 911 telephone call may not be released to the public absent a court order finding that the right of the public to the release of the recording outweighs the privacy interests of the individual who made the 911 call or any person involved in the facts or circumstances relating to the 911 call. Ala. Code § 11-98-12 (Supp. 2010).
Alabama
1. City jail records: The Docket Book with information regarding the arrest of each person booked at the jail — including name, birth date, home address, charges, bonds, fines, etc. — is a public record. Inter-Office Communication from Birmingham Law Department attorney Charles H. Wyatt, Jr., to Birmingham’s Chief Jail Administrator, Major Frank Alexander, confirming public record status of City Jail Docket, Aug. 1, 1985; see also Deutcsh v. State, 610 So. 2d 1212, 1224 (Ala. Crim. App. 1992) (Birmingham “Chief Jail Administrator Frank Alexander testified that the index book and the docket book are public records.”).
2. County jail records: A well-bound book regarding prisoners received into county jails is required to be kept available for public inspection. Ala. Code § 36-22-8 (2001); see also Holcombe v. State ex rel. Chandler, 240 Ala. 590, 200 So. 739 (1941).
3. Department of Corrections records: An Alabama Attorney General opinion, applying the Stone balancing test, has declared the following records public: “the work release roster including the inmate’s name, the specific location of the inmate, the inmate’s place of employment, and the crime for which the inmate is incarcerated,” and the following records nonpublic: an inmate’s “psychological profiles, information received in confidence from law enforcement agencies and other information which clear policy dictates should be maintained in confidence or that other statutes require to [remain] confidential.” 200 Op. Att’y Gen. Ala. 25 (Aug. 20, 1985).
The Alabama Attorney General has also held that prison incident and investigation reports maintained by the Depart of Corrections are subject to inspection under the Public Records Law. Allen v. Barksdale, 32 So. 3d 1264 (Ala. 2009).
4. Municipal court probation officer records: The records of these officers concerning their charges are closed. Ala. Code § 12-14-13(f) (1995).
5. Pardon and Parole Board records: Prisoner files are closed except for that portion in which each member of the Board records any decision affecting the prisoner’s liberty, property, or civil rights and the reasons, in detail, for such a decision. Ala. Code § 15-22-36(b) (Supp. 2005); see also Ex parte Ala. Bd. of Pardons & Paroles, 814 So. 2d 870 (Ala. 2001) (holding that section 15-22-36(b) "clearly and unambiguously establishes an absolute privilege that the Board is legally bound to obey and the circuit court is under a duty to uphold" and vacating circuit court's order to produce privileged records).
6. Pardon and Parole Board records: Minute books and Board orders pertaining to pardons before the Board are public records. Op. Att'y Gen. Ala. No. 2002-136, 2002 Ala. AG LEXIS 30 (Feb. 8, 2002).
7. Probation and parole officer records: Reports, records, and data assembled by these officers regarding their charges is closed to the public except by order of the court. Ala. Code §§ 15-22-53(b) and -73 (1995).
Alabama
1. Alabama Public Services Commission: The Commission is required to “keep a record of all their proceedings, which shall be open at all times to the inspection of the public.” Ala. Code § 37-1-8 (Supp. 2005).
2. Alabama Public Utilities Commission: “[A]ll reports, records and accounts in the possession of the [Commission] shall be open to inspection by the public at all times . . . .” Ala. Code§ 37-1-62 (1992).
3. Publicly owned public utilities: The records of these utilities are open. 197 Op. Att’y Gen. Ala. 24 (Nov. 27, 1984).
4. Telephone records (ATTNet remote access) for members of the Alabama Senate and House of Representative: In 1989, a Montgomery County trial court ordered the State Finance Director, the Clerk of the State House, and the Secretary of the State Senate to preserve the “records that reflect, by ATTNet remote access code number, the quantity, duration, and cost of long-distance telephone calls logged per month against each remote access code number assigned to the Alabama Senate and House of Representatives,” as well as the “records that identify, by individual name and ATTNet remote access code number, the members or staff of the Alabama Senate [or Alabama House of Representatives] to whom ATTNet remote access code numbers have been assigned” “for at least one year after any change in the assignment of ATTNet remote access code numbers to the Alabama Senate and House of Representatives.” The court also ordered that those records be made available for inspection and copying. Birmingham News Co. v. Swift, CV 88-1390 G (Cir. Ct. of Montgomery County, Ala., Sept. 7, 1988). An amendment to State law thereafter, however, requires the Alabama Telecommunications Division of the Department of Finance to “destroy and discard from its system all records of telephone usage six months following the payment of the billing for that usage period.” Ala. Code § 41-4-284(9) (2000).
Alabama
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