Editor’s Note: Sunshine Request makes no claim as to the veracity of any statements or information contained in any of the requests, or public records, we receive.
Other (indicate in message) Submitted: April 21, 2025 | Updated: May 15, 2025
(April 2025) Request for NC Department of Health and Human Services: Total number of “court ordered mental evaluations” for “capacity to proceed” issued by any Gaston County, NC Judges or Prosecutors from 01/01/2020 – present day.
Good evening Heather, Records, News, Emily, Justin, Sara, Charles (Records Officer / Custodian(s) of these Records),
Please reply promptly to the following public records request, which I’m making in accordance with NC Public Records Law. https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bychapter/chapter_132.html
If such a record exists –
Please provide the total number of “court ordered mental evaluations” for “capacity to proceed” issued by any Gaston County, NC Judges or Prosecutors in the last 5 years (01/01/2020 - present day).
I am only requesting to know numerical totals. I am explicitly asking that you do not provide me with any personally identifying information about patients, case numbers, etc.
If you are not the custodian of these records, please provide me with the name and email contact of the appropriate entity to which the request should be sent.
** I’m simply requesting an electronic copy of an electronic record, if one exists. I’m NOT asking for the opportunity to come in person to “inspect”, nor to obtain a printed copy of, this electronic record. I’m requesting explicitly that any responsive info be provided to me via the electronic medium / electronic format (in which the copy of this record already exists). If you are unable to fulfill any or all parts of this request, please specifically cite where a reason for denial is justified under NC Public Records Law. **
————————————
Please note that by submitting this request, I’m NOT agreeing to pay any potential fees or associated costs related to my request. If it isn’t possible to process the request without incurring fees, then please let me know the itemized potential cost and clear explanations of those charges upfront, and DO NOT proceed until I respond.
By Law I’m not required to provide a name or address to associate with a public records request. However, in order to move things along I’d like to clarify that this request is being made by:
Sunshine Request
PO Box 17391
Asheville, NC 28816
The request has been sent solely by me and my email address [email protected] . If anyone other than that email address contacts you to pursue a similar request, it did not come from me. Please do not commingle or treat that as an alteration or cancellation of my request – I intend to continue to pursue my request.
Thank you for your assistance!
** Sunshine Request (www.sunshinerequest.com) makes no claim as to the veracity of any statements or information contained in any of the requests, or public records, we receive.
Status: Completed
Activity:
-
May 15, 2025 5:58 pm
1 month ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Epstein, Charles” <[email protected]>
cc: “Maleski, Sara” <[email protected]>
date: May 15, 2025, 5:58 PM
subject: Re: [External] Re: Public Records Request #2025042201Hi Charles,
Thank you for your response.
Later this evening or early tomorrow I will mark the request as “Completed” on our website.
Have a good evening!
~The Sunshine Request Team
Editor’s Note to Sender:
This info. comes from our FAQs page:
Who should I contact if I think there are results of requests that have been improperly disclosed or should be redacted?
The results of all Completed requests are published on our site, and have been provided to Sunshine Request directly by the disclosing government agency (government entity).
Sunshine Request’s policy in situations involving an alleged improper disclosure is to refer you to the disclosing agency (government entity). If any party feels that an alleged improper disclosure has taken place, please contact the disclosing agency (government entity) directly.
If the disclosing agency, after a review of your case, determines that confidential information was improperly disclosed, and notifies us of such disclosure, we will then be able to review your case.
Similarly — Sunshine Request has reviewed any info given to us from the NC DHHS to determine if it satisfies the initial request. We make no claim as to the veracity of records / responses we receive from Entities. If you have reason to believe that NC DHHS has improperly disclosed (or is not disclosing) all available public records in accordance with NC Public Records Law, we encourage you to reach out to them directly.
Thank you for using Sunshine Request!
Status: Completed -
May 15, 2025 9:37 am
1 month ago
from: Epstein, Charles <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: “Maleski, Sara” <[email protected]>
date: May 15, 2025, 9:37 AM
subject: RE: [External] Re: Public Records Request #2025042201Good morning,
Staff have informed us that they do not have records responsive to this request, and NC DHHS now considers this request closed.
Sincerely,
Charles Epstein
Legal Communications Specialist
Office of Communications
NC Department of Health and Human Services
Office: 919-855-4840
101 Blair Drive, Adams Building
2001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-2001
Email correspondence to and from this address is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties by an authorized State official. Unauthorized disclosure of juvenile, health, legally privileged, or otherwise confidential information, including confidential information relating to an ongoing State procurement effort, is prohibited by law. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete all records of this email.
Status: Response Received from Government -
May 7, 2025 1:39 pm
1 month ago
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “Maleski, Sara” <[email protected]>
cc: “Epstein, Charles” <[email protected]>
date: May 7, 2025, 1:39 PM
subject: Re: Public Records Request #2025042201Hi Sara,
Thank you for confirming receipt of my request.
I just wanted to follow up to see if you’re able to provide an anticipated timeline or date for its completion?
I understand that you have a high volume of requests.
Thank you for your help!
~ The Sunshine Request Team
Status: Follow up -
April 22, 2025 9:30 am
2 months ago
from: Maleski, Sara <[email protected]>
to: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
cc: “Epstein, Charles” <[email protected]>
date: Apr 22, 2025, 9:30 AM
subject: Public Records Request #2025042201Good morning,
Thank you for your public records request to the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS). Your request has been assigned #2025042201. NCDHHS is committed to responding to your request as promptly as possible; however, please be advised the fulfillment of your request may be affected by the high volume of requests we are currently experiencing.
Thank you,
Sara Maleski
Legal Communications Specialist
Office of Communications
NC Department of Health and Human Services
Office: 919-855-4840
101 Blair Drive, Adams Building
2001 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-2001
Email correspondence to and from this address is subject to the North Carolina Public Records Law and may be disclosed to third parties by an authorized State official. Unauthorized disclosure of juvenile, health, legally privileged, or otherwise confidential information, including confidential information relating to an ongoing State procurement effort, is prohibited by law. If you have received this email in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete all records of this email.
Status: Government Processing Request -
April 21, 2025 5:19 pm
2 months ago
from: Mail Delivery Subsystem <[email protected]>
date: Apr 21, 2025, 5:19 PM
subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)Address not found
Your message wasn’t delivered to [email protected] because the address couldn’t be found, or is unable to receive mail.
WarningThis link will take you to a third-party site
The response from the remote server was:
550 5.4.1 Recipient address rejected: Access denied. For more information see https://aka.ms/EXOSmtpErrors [DS1PEPF00017E09.namprd09.
prod.outlook.com 2025-04-21T21:19:47.559Z 08DD7CA86A2FC887] ———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
To: “public.records” <[email protected]>
Cc: DHHS-News <[email protected]>, “Kirby, Emily” <[email protected]>, “Williams, Justin K” <[email protected]>, “Maleski, Sara” <[email protected]>, “Epstein, Charles” <[email protected]>
Bcc:
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2025 17:19:30 -0400
Subject: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for NC Department of Health and Human Services: Total number of “court ordered mental evaluations” for “capacity to proceed” issued by any Gaston County, NC Judges or Prosecutors from 01/01/2020 – present day.
—– Message truncated —–
from: Mail Delivery Subsystem <[email protected]>
date: Apr 21, 2025, 5:19 PM
subject: Delivery Status Notification (Failure)Address not found
Your message wasn’t delivered to [email protected] because the address couldn’t be found, or is unable to receive mail.
WarningThis link will take you to a third-party site
The response from the remote server was:
550 5.4.1 Recipient address rejected: Access denied. For more information see https://aka.ms/EXOSmtpErrors [SA2PEPF00002250.namprd09.
prod.outlook.com 2025-04-21T21:19:47.423Z 08DD7CD9C63E3014] ———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
To: “public.records” <[email protected]>
Cc: DHHS-News <[email protected]>, “Kirby, Emily” <[email protected]>, “Williams, Justin K” <[email protected]>, “Maleski, Sara” <[email protected]>, “Epstein, Charles” <[email protected]>
Bcc:
Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2025 17:19:30 -0400
Subject: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for NC Department of Health and Human Services: Total number of “court ordered mental evaluations” for “capacity to proceed” issued by any Gaston County, NC Judges or Prosecutors from 01/01/2020 – present day.
—– Message truncated —–
from: Sunshine Request <[email protected]>
to: “public.records” <[email protected]>
cc: DHHS-News <[email protected]>, “Kirby, Emily” <[email protected]>, “Williams, Justin K” <[email protected]>, “Maleski, Sara” <[email protected]>, “Epstein, Charles” <[email protected]>
date: Apr 21, 2025, 5:19 PM
subject: Public records request. (April 2025) Request for NC Department of Health and Human Services: Total number of “court ordered mental evaluations” for “capacity to proceed” issued by any Gaston County, NC Judges or Prosecutors from 01/01/2020 – present day.Good evening Heather, Records, News, Emily, Justin, Sara, Charles (Records Officer / Custodian(s) of these Records),
Please reply promptly to the following public records request, which I’m making in accordance with NC Public Records Law. https://www.ncleg.net/enactedlegislation/statutes/html/bychapter/chapter_132.html
If such a record exists –
Please provide the total number of “court ordered mental evaluations” for “capacity to proceed” issued by any Gaston County, NC Judges or Prosecutors in the last 5 years (01/01/2020 – present day).I am only requesting to know numerical totals. I am explicitly asking that you do not provide me with any personally identifying information about patients, case numbers, etc.
If you are not the custodian of these records, please provide me with the name and email contact of the appropriate entity to which the request should be sent.
** I’m simply requesting an electronic copy of an electronic record, if one exists. I’m NOT asking for the opportunity to come in person to “inspect”, nor to obtain a printed copy of, this electronic record. I’m requesting explicitly that any responsive info be provided to me via the electronic medium / electronic format (in which the copy of this record already exists). If you are unable to fulfill any or all parts of this request, please specifically cite where a reason for denial is justified under NC Public Records Law. **
————————————Please note that by submitting this request, I’m NOT agreeing to pay any potential fees or associated costs related to my request. If it isn’t possible to process the request without incurring fees, then please let me know the itemized potential cost and clear explanations of those charges upfront, and DO NOT proceed until I respond.
By Law I’m not required to provide a name or address to associate with a public records request. However, in order to move things along I’d like to clarify that this request is being made by:
Sunshine Request
PO Box 17391
Asheville, NC 28816The request has been sent solely by me and my email address [email protected] . If anyone other than that email address contacts you to pursue a similar request, it did not come from me. Please do not commingle or treat that as an alteration or cancellation of my request – I intend to continue to pursue my request.
Thank you for your assistance!
** Sunshine Request (www.sunshinerequest.com) makes no claim as to the veracity of any statements or information contained in any of the requests, or public records, we receive.
Status: Sent to Government -
April 21, 2025 5:17 pm
2 months ago
Submitted to Sunshine Request
Status: Pending