Prison Legal News v. Federal Bureau of Prisons

The Reporters Committee filed a brief in a FOIA case concerning prison records. Prison Legal News requested from the Federal Bureau of Prisons all documents related to claims filed against the bureau and settlements related to those claims. The bureau did release much of the information PLN asked for, but redacted key details about who filed some of the complaints and who was accused, citing both FOIA privacy exemptions (b(6) and b(7)(C)) to justify the redactions. A district court judge upheld the redactions, finding that the privacy interests at stake outweighed the public interest. The Reporters Committee's brief argued that no FOIA exemption applies to the information at issue, and that if the privacy exemptions do apply, the public interest in the information outweighs the privacy interest at stake because the identity information will help the public better assess how BOP is handling tort and civil rights complaints.