Kentucky's Attorney General has ruled that inmate phone call logs held by a private contractor are not public records under state law, even when corrections facilities have access to them, according to an open records decision issued April 22.

The decision rejected an appeal by Kyle Thompson, an inmate at Green River Correctional Complex in Central City, who sought copies of his call logs from July through November 2024. The facility denied the request because Securus Technologies, the private company that operates the prison phone system, possesses the records, not the prison itself.

Thompson argued that since the prison has access to call logs to facilitate investigations, the records should qualify as public documents under Kentucky law. However, Attorney General Russell Coleman's office found that merely having access to records through a contractor is insufficient to make them "public records." The law requires that an agency actually "prepare, own, use, possess, or retain" the requested records.

The decision noted that the complex only "has access to call logs, in the event they are needed for investigative purposes," distinguishing between hypothetical access rights and actual possession. Even though the prison had previously provided Thompson with a call log in response to another request, that disclosure did not establish the logs as public records under the legal definition.

Green River Correctional Complex is a 982-bed medium and minimum security adult male facility operated by the Kentucky Department of Corrections. Securus Technologies operates the prison's phone system under contract, and is required to retain inmate account information for two years after contract termination, with the prison having access for investigative purposes.

The ruling highlights the distinction between public agency access to third-party records and actual agency possession. Thompson has 30 days to file an appeal in circuit court if he wishes to challenge the Attorney General's decision.