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$60,000 deal ends Maryland inmate’s open-records case

$60,000 deal ends Maryland inmate’s open-records case

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CUMBERLAND — The state of is paying $60,000 to resolve a that established that state prison inmates have the same right to public records as anyone else.

The Times-News reports that the state approved the payment Wednesday to cover the ‘s attorney fees.

Former inmate Richard Massey Jr. filed the complaint in 2002 after getting no response to his request for state prison agency records regarding inmate health care.

Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, ruled last May that the state was wrong in insisting that Massey pursue his complaint administratively as an inmate grievance before going to court.

The American Civil Liberties Union says the case set a precedent for freedom-of-information rights in Maryland.