Inmate Requests Test Public Records Law

The Associated Press — Inmate Requests Test Public Records Law:

An arson­ist impris­oned for fire­bomb­ing the cars of two lawyers is using his remain­ing 19 years behind bars to dig up infor­ma­tion on the judges, lawyers and cor­rec­tions offi­cers who helped put him there.

But Allan Parmelee’s hun­dreds of requests under the state’s Public Records Act have become so numer­ous, and so creepy, that a pros­e­cu­tor has taken the extra­or­di­nary step of ask­ing a judge not only to let his office ignore Parmelee’s pend­ing requests, but to bar him from fil­ing any more.

I am gen­er­ally in favor of open gov­ern­ment and open records. But how do we enforce lim­its to avoid abuse and threats? Not every­one is, after all, look­ing out for the pub­lic inter­est.