Florida's Juvenile Justice department left a public-records request unfulfilled for nearly two years, Florida Phoenix found

Nearly two years after Florida Phoenix requested behavior reports from the state's Department of Juvenile Justice, the request remains unfulfilled. The department had fulfilled a nearly identical August 2024 request within three months; using those records, the Phoenix reported in a two-part series that the department's new school program had enabled children in juvenile detention to watch pornography on state-issued laptops and was running $10 million over budget. In October 2024, a month before that series published, the Phoenix requested behavior reports for August through October of that year. The department acknowledged the request 12 minutes after receiving it; as of the Phoenix's August 2026 follow-up report, it remained unfulfilled.

A second request, filed in February 2025 for behavior reports between October 2024 and February 2025, also remains unfulfilled, as does a March 23, 2026 request for a statutorily mandated annual financial report. The department has not provided a reason for the delays. Repeated follow-ups to DJJ's communications director and general counsel either went unanswered or drew responses such as "your request is still in process" and "I have no updates at this time." Then-Secretary Eric Hall told the Legislature in March 2025 that the pornography access and other technical problems were "growing pains"; the department's current secretary, Matt Walsh, told the Legislature in November 2025 that the problems had been addressed with "immediate" intervention -- but the department has not released public records verifying either claim.

Florida law requires agencies to make records "open for personal inspection and copying by any person," and the Florida Constitution gives "every person" the right to inspect or copy public records. First Amendment Foundation executive director Bobby Block said the pattern of unanswered requests is increasingly common and is "not good for democracy," describing a shift from a "default setting" of disclosure to one of delay, denial, or silence. He said the trend has been especially pronounced over the last decade, and particularly under the DeSantis administration, which he said treats public-records requests "as an option -- as not a right but a privilege they feel that they get to decide who gets."