Prisons & Jails – Parole Denial – Inmate’s Files – Right to Access

The Parole Board of the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services’ (the Board’s) Form 1212 says in part, “[I]nmates themselves have no right to inspect the contents of their files. If the inmate thinks his/her file is somehow incomplete or contains some errors or other inaccuracy, he/she must notify the Board of the specific error or inaccuracy.” As the Administrative Law Court noted, Form 1212 requires the inmate to notify the Board if there is an error in his or her file and to require an inmate to do so when he/she has no right to see the file “is logically and legally absurd.”

We reverse and remand for the appellant-inmate to review his file, report any inaccuracies, and be given a new parole hearing.

Like the ALC, we find the language of Form 1212 requiring an inmate to notify the Board if his or her file is incorrect necessarily implies the right to review the file. Although the ALC found, in this case, the supplemental record on appeal “provide[d] ample material for review[,]” appellant has still not been permitted to review his parole file and thus has not been provided the referenced opportunity to notify the Board of any errors or inaccuracies he identifies. The supplemental record on appeal was provided to the ALC by appellant, and appellant alleges the ALC still did not have access to his complete file. With protections for victims in place by reasonable redaction and sealing, an inmate is entitled to review his or her file. Thus, we reverse and remand for appellant to review his file, report any inaccuracies, and be given a new parole hearing.

Kelsey v. South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole & Pardon Services (Lawyers Weekly No. 011-067-23, 6 pp.) (Paula Thomas, J.) Appealed from the Administrative Law Court (Harold Funderburk, ALJ) Gerald Mallow, Jonathan Edward Ozmint, Hannah Lyon Freedman and Whitney Boykin Harrison for appellant; Matthew Buchanan for respondent; Alllison Elder for amici curiae. South Carolina Court of Appeals