There’s good reason why America’s Founding Fathers begin our Constitution with the words “We the People.” They expected the government they were crafting to be a government of the people, for the people, and by the people. 

The same goes for those who crafted Texas’s Public Information Act.  The very first paragraph of this important law reminds us that “The people, in delegating authority, do not give their public servants the right to decide what is good for the people to know and what is not good for them to know.”

However, some say actions speak louder than words.  And the 11News Defenders ran into a state agency that behaved, on this story, as if it may not have agreed with those who crafted that law.

Why is that? KHOU took a simple step in researching this story that is part of the normal investigative process for many of the stories we research: We filed a public information request. 

What did we ask for? A simple listing of convicted criminals across Texas who had been ordered by Courts to pay restitution to their victims. We wanted to know how much these parolees (or former parolees) owed,  and how much the State had collected- before letting them off parole and telling their victims they had paid their debt to society in full.   

The road block? The Texas Department of Criminal Justice simply didn’t want us to see the information. That, in itself, is not what makes this story so unusual. In the process of conducting investigations, from time to time KHOU runs into agencies that simply want to do all they can to avoid accountability or prevent certain stories from coming to light. So what makes this story so unusual? Turns out, TDCJ not only refused to release the information to us – but refused to do something else most agencies always do even when think they are right: Ask for an unbiased, independent legal opinion from the Attorney General. So why does this matter?

“TDCJ is breaking the law by refusing to seek an Attorney General’s decision,” said attorney Laura Prather, who is the Vice President of the Freedom of Information Foundation of Texas. “They are required to do so under the Public Information Act.”

TDCJ’s response? The information we wanted was confidential, they claimed. They cited a previous Attorney General letter ruling from four years ago. KHOU’s attorneys found their own Attorney General letter rulings and legal justifications for why the information we sought was, indeed, public information.

Prather says  in situations where a member of the public and a state agency disagree, the state agency is required by law to ask the Attorney General for an unbiased, independent opinion.  

By both refusing to give us the information- and refusing to seek and Attorney General’s decision, Prather calls it an “egregious” violation of the Act.

What’s more? The very AG letter ruling TDCJ referenced to our lawyers- supposedly giving it the authority to keep the information from KHOU, stated this clearly in black and white:

“This letter ruling is limited to the particular records at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other records or any other circumstances.”

Still? TDCJ refused ask for an Attorney General’s opinion on KHOU’s request, deciding on its own to keep the information out of the public’s hands.  

“What is going on here is TDCJ is basically usurping the authority of the Attorney General by unilaterally deciding what is and what is not confidential,” Prather said.

KHOU long suspected the reason TDCJ put up so much of a fight was because it had something to hide.    This time, KHOU found another way to obtain enough information about the performance of TDCJ to bring this story to light.   Turns out our investigation, and information we would obtain through other means outside of our public information request, would eventually reveal TDCJ failed to collect more than 90 percent of the money convicts owed. Still? TDCJ would discharge them from parole- and any further state supervision.   When we interviewed the head of the parole division, even he would admit the State needed to do much more.   

Far too often, actions like what TDCJ took might chill the ability of news organizations to report on and research your government.    This time, we found a way to still bring you the story.