Jerauld County South Dakota Inmate Jail Records

Jail Records – The Freedom of Searching For Jail Records

The question as to whether it is legal to access jail records in Jerauld County, South Dakota has been brought up before. In 2021, the American Civil Liberty Union sued the state of South Dakota over the issue, claiming that the right to public access to jail records was a violation of the constitutional guarantee of an open court. At the time, there was no clear answer as to whether or not the state was allowed to make these records public.

It now appears that the answer is yes. A federal appeals court has recently upheld a ruling allowing people to obtain access to information regarding a person’s incarceration, by requesting them through the Freedom of Information Act. The ruling is not a surprise to those who were aware that the act makes it possible for people to see jail records. But it has, obviously, reignited debate about whether or not the law is good enough.

Under the law, jail records can be viewed by anyone who has a legitimate reason to do so. They are also considered public records, and are therefore accessible to any member of the public who has a valid reason to request the records. For example, someone who is doing a background check on somebody they consider to be suspicious might want to view the records in order to help them determine if they are being truthful on their application for a job. Somebody who is looking to rent a house or apartment may use them to make sure they are not a suspect in any crime. Even lawyers use jail records when preparing a legal brief for a client. Jail records are considered legal documents for just about everybody to view.

There is no real controversy about the fact that jail records can be viewed by anyone. What is a big deal is the notion that you can only view them when you have a legitimate reason for doing so. There are some red flags with regard to the manner in which the law was designed to govern access to this public information. As you will recall, the Freedom of Information Act was designed to allow the general public the right to see all publicly available information.

Unfortunately, the law is written in such a way as to prevent the public from having access to many types of information. For example, many court cases have been decided on the basis of what the information reveals, rather than what it tells a person who is the subject of the records. This means that criminal cases are still sealed to the point where people who could benefit from those details cannot even get a copy of them. The records are also withheld from people who could be a danger to the public and to themselves. In other words, you can be locked up in prison for years and never know what you might have been able to uncover in your time behind bars.

Luckily, you no longer have to stand for this type of privacy. Public jail records are now available to almost everyone who is willing to take a few minutes to request them. You simply have to go online and visit one of the record retrieval sites that are available online. These sites act as a middleman between people who need the criminal records and the people who want to have access to them. As long as you are over eighteen and a citizen of the United States, then you are almost guaranteed to get the information you need from one of these sites.