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  SIDEBAR    The News Media & The Law Summer 2002 (Vol. 26, No. 3), Page 39. Freedom of Information  

Detainee request redacted

In mid-July, the Immigration and Naturalization Service responded to a request from Charles Laszewski, a reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, for information on federal prisoners, most of whom appeared to be detainees held in local jails after the events of September 11.

As in New Jersey, they are held in Minnesota jails under contracts between local institutions and the federal government.

The agency sent Laszewski three pages of information blacked out except for the sex of each unidentified detainee and the date of his or her incarceration.

It claimed that disclosure of any other information would intrude upon their privacy. Laszewski was not even able to determine where the unidentified prisoners were held.

Laszewski appealed the denial in late July.

© 2002 The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.