A Pennsylvania judge is requiring the prison system to pay $1,500 over its response to a request for information about how a fly ash dump and possible water contamination may be affecting inmate health.
Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson sided last week with the Uniontown Herald-Standard, saying the Department of Corrections delayed access to public records for three years.
The fine is the most allowed under the Right-to-Know Law.
Simpson says he may also make the agency pay the paper's legal costs.
The judge is giving the Corrections Department about a month to produce pharmacy reports and chronic care clinic records.
Executive Editor Michael Palm says the Herald-Standard sought the records to see whether fly ash or water contamination was sickening people inside the prison or in a nearby community.
