IOWA CITY — The Iowa Public Information Board’s leader says it’s OK for an agency to charge more than $2,000 for access to mandatory reports about sexual violence in Iowa prisons.
Executive director Keith Luchtel said the charge by the Iowa Department of Corrections isn’t excessive and complies with the open records law. The board will review his opinion Thursday.
The Marshall Project, a nonprofit that reports on the criminal justice system, is seeking sexual violent incident reports from states that were required under the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
Editor Bill Keller says Iowa’s charge is far more than any of the 30 states that have responded. He says much larger states such as Texas made them available for free.
Keller says the group won’t pay the charge, and is considering its options.