IN THE COMMONWEALTH COURT OF PENNSYLVANIA Charles Picarella Jr., : Petitioner : : No. 93 C.D. 2021 v. : : Submitted: July 16, 2021 Department of Corrections : (Office of Open Records), : Respondent : BEFORE: HONORABLE P. KEVIN BROBSON, President Judge HONORABLE PATRICIA A. McCULLOUGH, Judge HONORABLE ELLEN CEISLER, Judge OPINION NOT REPORTED MEMORANDUM OPINION BY JUDGE McCULLOUGH FILED: December 30, 2021 Charles Picarella Jr., pro se, petitions for review of the January 8, 2021 Final Determination of the Office of Open Records (OOR), which granted in part and denied in part Picarella’s appeal of the Department of Corrections’ (Department) partial denial of his Right-to-Know Law (RTKL)1 request. We affirm. Picarella is an inmate at the State Correctional Institution at Mahanoy. On October 1, 2020, Picarella filed a RTKL request with the Department, seeking: Any and all records related to the criteria used by the Department to determine whether a prisoner incarcerated within the Department will receive a positive or negative recommendation for parole when such determination is submitted to the Pennsylvania Board of Probation and 1 Act of February 14, 2008, P.L. 6, 65 P.S. §§67.101-67.3104. Parole,[2] including but not limited to quantitative scoring instruments. (OOR Final Determination at 1-2.) On October 26, 2020, the Department granted Picarella access to several Department policies, but partially denied Picarella’s request with respect to certain sections of Department Policy 11.5.1. The Department contended that disclosure of those sections of the policy would jeopardize personal security and public safety, and that they are thus exempt from disclosure under section 708(b)(1)(ii)3 and (b)(2)4 of the RTKL, 65 P.S. §67.708(b)(1)(ii), (b)(2).5 On November 24, 2020, Picarella appealed to the OOR. On December 16, 2020, the Department submitted a position statement, in which it reiterated its stated grounds for denial with respect to the withheld sections of Policy 11.5.1. In 2 The Pennsylvania Board of Probation and Parole was renamed the Pennsylvania Parole Board by sections 15 and 16.1 of the Act of December 18, 2019, P.L. 776. See sections 6101 and 6111(a) of the Prisons and Parole Code, as amended, 61 Pa.C.S. §§6101, 6111(a). 3 Section 708(b)(1)(ii) of the RTKL exempts from disclosure a record which “would be reasonably likely to result in a substantial and demonstrable risk of physical harm to or the personal security of an individual.” 65 P.S. §67.708(b)(1)(ii). We refer to this exemption herein as the “personal security exemption.” 4 Section 708(b)(2) of the RTKL exempts from disclosure a “record maintained by an agency in connection with the military, homeland security, national defense, law enforcement or other public safety activity that, if disclosed, would be reasonably likely to jeopardize or threaten public safety or preparedness or public protection activity . . . .” 65 P.S. §67.708(b)(2). We refer to this exemption herein as the “public safety exemption.” 5 The Department initially contended that the relevant sections of the policy were additionally exempt from disclosure under section 708(b)(16) and (b)(17), 65 P.S. §67.708(b)(16), (b)(17), because they relate to criminal and noncriminal …
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