I am a prison librarian and also a MLIS graduate student at the University 
of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. I work with prisoner case files at times in our 
institution's Records Department (we have approx. 1,000 inmates in our 
medium security prison) and I am familiar with what they contain. I have 
been making calls and e-mails with state archives and state department of 
corrections record central units to answer some questions - if I have 
already contacted you, thanks for your help! I am expanding now as what I 
have found so far is that it is difficult to find out who would know how 
to obtain a copy of the record retention schedule for the prisoner (or 
offender is the new wording in some states) case files/social service 
files in their state. Any help obtaining record retention schedules for 
prisoner case files is greatly appreciated - I only have the state of 
Wisconsin record retention schedule so far for this particular type of 
government record. 
Questions for state archivists: once the files are transferred to the 
state archive from your department of corrections (if indeed they have 
been transferred), I need a contact at the state archive who can tell me 
how many files or cubic feet of files exist and how far back do they date. 
Are they whole records or samplings? And what are the plans to do with 
these files in future years as the volume increases?
Another issue I would like comments upon: what about personal privacy or 
law enforcement confidentiality? These records are loaded. When are they 
open to the public? Does your state archive have many requests from 
researchers to use these types of files?
If you prefer, you can contact me off-list at [log in to unmask] 
Again, I truly appreciate your time and any comments or direction,
Michele McCaughtry
Jackson Correctional Institution Library
N6500 Haipek Rd. P.O. Box 232
Black River Falls, WI 54615-0232

P.S. I am looking for incarcerated persons within the state prison system. 
I am excluding federal prisoners and prisoners of war. Thank you.

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List sponsored by the Society of American Archivists, www.archivists.org.
For the terms of participation, please refer to http://www.archivists.org/listservs/arch_listserv_terms.asp.

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to [log in to unmask]

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <[log in to unmask]>