Butler County is appealing a determination from the Pennsylvania Open Records Office to provide the names of the inmates in the county jail to a faith-based drug and alcohol recovery center in Mercer County.

On Feb. 18, Hope Center Ministries in Greenville submitted a request under the state Right-to-Know Law seeking the names, commitment dates and release dates of county prison inmates to provide them with a resource to the ministries’ recovery program in Butler, according to a petition for review the county filed June 25 in Common Pleas Court.

The county denied the request March 25, saying the information sought is confidential under the state Criminal History Record Information Act and protected by a constitutional right to privacy.

Hope Center Ministries filed an appeal that day with the state Open Records Office, arguing the information is not protected by the law and other correctional institutions routinely make inmate rosters and booking information publicly available.

In response to the appeal, the county included an attestation from Warden Beau Sneddon saying inmate names and commitment and release dates are considered identifiable descriptions and protected under the law. He included his opinion that releasing the information would make future expungements sought by the inmates impossible because the information could end up anywhere after it is released.

The Open Records Office issued a final determination June 2 partially granting and partially denying the ministries’ appeal.

The determination says inmate commitment and release dates are protected under the Criminal History Record Information Act, and are not subject to public disclosure. The office noted that information may be contained in judicial records.

However, the names of the inmates are not protected by the law, according to the determination. It notes the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections’ website includes an inmate locator that makes the names of inmates in state prisons publicly available.

Courts have traditionally recognized a limited personal interest in connection with a person’s name alone. Names may be provided when there is a public interest or when the names will not result in harm to the person’s security or reputation, according to the determination.

The determination cites court cases saying inmates have limited rights and freedoms, including a diminished expectation of privacy. It contends there is public interest in knowing the names of inmates and being able to locate and identify people held in county prisons.

“Therefore, we find the public interest in releasing the identities of inmates to outweigh any privacy interests that the inmates may have in the event that they may at some point in the future have criminal charges expunged,” according to the determination.

In the petition for review, the county solicitor, Julie Graham, argues the Open Records Office didn’t fully consider the purpose of the Criminal History Record Information Act, which is to protect an individual’s privacy from the unjustified prejudice that would result from disclosure of a person’s arrest.

Graham’s petition additionally argues that the Open Records office incorrectly found that inmate names are not identifiable descriptions under the law. It did not address potential liability that might come from claims of the county violating the law when it comes to disclosing names of people who were arrested, but not convicted.

County commissioners declined to comment. Hope Center Ministries director Justin Reynolds, who filed the Right-to-Know request and appeal, did not respond to an email seeking comment.