Carter and Department of Community Safety
(210867, 27 August 2009)
Section 11E Application of Act to offenders or agents
The applicant sought access to a copy of a psychological report prepared by a psychologist on 14 March 1994 (Report).
Initially, the then name Department of Corrective Services, now Department of Community Safety (Department) decided that the applicant was not entitled to obtain access to the Report under section 11E of the Freedom of Information Act 1992 (FOI Act). The internal review decision maker upheld this decision.
The applicant applied for external review, submitting that the Report was initiated by his solicitors and was therefore not a document received, or brought into existence, by the Department.
During the course of the external review, the Department maintained that the Report in its entirety was a risk assessment document within the meaning of section 11E of the FOI Act. However, given that parts of the Report were known to the applicant, the Department was prepared to disclose those parts of the Report to him and did so in the course of the review.
Accordingly, the balance of the Report constituted the matter in issue in this review.
On examining the Report, the relevant law and the submissions of both participants, Acting Assistant Commissioner Jefferies decided that:
· the applicant was an offender within the meaning of section 11E of the FOI Act (because the applicant was an offender as defined in the Corrective Services Act 2006, serving a term of imprisonment for a prescribed offence)
· the parts of the Report in issue in this review assessed a risk to the security or good order of a corrective services facility and constituted a risk assessment document for the purposes of section 11E of the FOI Act
· the Report was created by a staff member of the Department and was brought into existence by the Department in which the Corrective Services Act 2006 is administered.
Accordingly, Acting Assistant Commissioner Jefferies affirmed the decision under review by finding that the applicant is not entitled to obtain access to the parts of the Report in issue in this review under section 11E of the FOI Act.