On March 26, 2009, Prison Legal News (PLN), a non-profit monthly publication that reports on criminal justice-related issues, obtained a favorable ruling from the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. in a lawsuit filed against the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) under the Freedom of Information Act.
The suit was originally filed in September 2005 after PLN submitted a FOIA request to the BOP for documents related to taxpayer funds the agency had paid as a result of verdicts and settlements in lawsuits. The BOP tried to impose a $7,000 fee for the requested records, despite PLN’s non-profit status and intent to report the results from its FOIA request to the general
public.
On June 26, 2006, the U.S. District Court ordered the BOP to produce the requested documents, but even if the BOP officials turned over a number of records, they were incomplete and deficient, while some documents were again refused to be provided under the pretext they were subject to various FOIA exemptions.
In March 26, 2009 ruling the court said the BOP had failed to prove that the withheld documents were properly subject to FOIA exemptions. Accordingly, the BOP was ordered to either “conduct a new search of its files for the records,” or provide proof that the agency’s initial search was sufficient.
Case No. 1:05-01812-RBW, Prison Legal News v. Lappin, U.S. District Court (D. D.C.).
Prison Legal News (PLN) is Seattle (Washington) based non-profit organization striving to protect human rights in US detention facilities. PLN operates a website (www.prisonlegalnews.org) that includes a comprehensive database of prison and jail-related articles, news items, court rulings, verdicts, settlements and related documents.
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