Steep price for 'Making a Murderer' emails
MADISON, Wis. — Our quest for government records related to Netflix’s popular Making a Murderer series has taken a couple steps forward but some key barriers remain. Below are three developments since we last updated readers.
1. Steep price for emails
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin asked state prison officials more than three weeks ago to search their email accounts using four keywords and to release digital copies of their results.
On Friday, prison officials agreed to proceed but only if we would pay hundreds in government fees. They said we’d have to pay $220 just for the search and an additional 25 cents per page for up to 4,000 pages of emails.
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We could pay these fees, get the emails and move on, but the response by state prison officials raises some questions worth exploring first. We worry their fees might be unnecessary and excessive.
We specifically asked that prison officials provide digital copies of the emails, eliminating the cost of photocopies. But in their response Friday, they cited copying fees for thousands of pages.
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We're asking whether the Department of Corrections would provide digital copies as requested and if so, why copying fees per page would be necessary. The cost of sharing digital files should be no more than a CD or flash drive.
Secondly, we're asking the Department to either waive its fees or produce documentation that its copying charges aren’t excessive. We noted that another state agency, the Department of Justice, only charges 15 cents per page for photocopies. Why do prison officials charge more?
That dime difference might seem like small potatoes but could save us hundreds of dollars over the course of copying 4,000 pages.
We reached out to prison officials on Friday and haven't heard back yet. We hope to provide an update soon.
2. Personal conflicts?
In addition to emails, we sought digital copies of internal prison reports referencing Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, the Manitowoc County men convicted in 2007 of killing freelance photographer Teresa Halbach.
On Monday, prison officials released digital copies of 10 internal reports to USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin at no cost and said that other possible reports about the men weren't available due to how records in the department were historically stored.
Before April 2011, officials said, the Department of Corrections stored incident reports only in chronological order while reports today can be searched for by name, number or another identifier. Searching for references to the two men before 2011 would require tediously reviewing every report.
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The 10 reports that prison officials did find don’t contain information about evidence in the Making a Murderer case. Most involve prison employees disclosing to their superiors that they might have personal conflicts in overseeing Avery and Dassey, but these concerns didn’t seem to ever gain much traction.
For instance, after Dassey was transferred in 2007 to a state prison in central Wisconsin, an officer disclosed that Halbach had been his wedding photographer and had worked with his wife for roughly two years. The officer wrote he “might have trouble treating inmate Dassey fairly and remaining professional.”
The officer was advised to “stay away” from Dassey until higher-ranking officials could discuss the situation. Dassey was transferred to another prison about two years later but has since returned to the facility.
3. No Netflix for Avery, Dassey?
Our third and final request sought copies of documents outlining how much access prison inmates have to news and entertainment. This request stemmed from a simple question that prison officials had refused to answer for weeks: Are Avery, Dassey and other inmates able to watch Making a Murderer?
On Friday, Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joy Staab provided the answer in an email to USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, at least for maximum security inmates like Avery and Dassey: No.
“Maximum security institutions do not have the ability to stream video,” Staab wrote. “Inmates are authorized to view movies rated PG-13 or below and do not include adult themes, violence, strong language or nudity.”
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Prison officials also responded to our request on Monday by releasing 55 pages of department policies about inmate access to movies, pornography, mail, library materials and personal property. These policies show that prison wardens have final say on movie selections and may allow R-rated movies but only if the themes that Staab described are edited out.
Making a Murderer would seem unlikely to make the cut.
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Follow Keegan Kyle on Twitter: @keegankyle