Pinson v. U.S. Department of Justice

236 F. Supp. 3d 338, 2017 WL 663523, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22981
CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedFebruary 17, 2017
DocketCivil Action No. 2012-1872
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 236 F. Supp. 3d 338 (Pinson v. U.S. Department of Justice) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, District of Columbia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pinson v. U.S. Department of Justice, 236 F. Supp. 3d 338, 2017 WL 663523, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22981 (D.D.C. 2017).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Granting in Part and Denying in Part Dependants’ Third Motion for Summary Judgment

RUDOLPH CONTRERAS, United States' District Judge

While -in .prison, pro se plaintiff Jeremy Pinson filed multiple Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), 5 U.S.C. § 552, requests seeking records from various components of the U.S. Department of Justice (“DOJ”). In addition' to releasing a number of records'to Pinson, the DOJ asked Pin-son to clarify some of her 1 records requests, told her that it could not 'find- records responsive to some of her requests, and informed- her that the some of the *345 records she sought were exempt from disclosure by law. Pinson filed a complaint challenging some of these determinations and alleging that the DOJ improperly withheld records.

In two prior opinions, this Court has granted in part and denied in part the DOJ’s first and second requests for summary judgment as to the claims against the Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”). See Defs.’ Mot. Summ. J. Respect BOP, ECF No. 147; Pinson v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, No. 12-1872, 2016 WL 29245, at *1 (D.D.C. Jan. 4, 2016), ECF No. 259; Defs.’ 2d Mot. Summ. J. Respect BOP, ECF No. 265; Pinson v. U.S. Dep’t of Justice, 199 F.Supp.3d 203, 218, No. 12-1872, ECF No. 309, 2016 WL 4250230 (D.D.C. 2016). 2 Now before the Court is the DOJ’s third motion for summary judgment as to eleven FOIA requests. See Defs.’ 3d Mot. Summ. J. Respect BOP (“Defs.’ 3d MSJ”), ECF No. 293. The DOJ argues that, for each request, the BOP conducted adequate searches reasonably calculated to identify responsive records and made proper with-holdings pursuant to FOIA exemptions. See Defs.’ Mem. 'P. & A., ECF No. 293-2. For the reasons set forth below, the Court grants in part and denies in part the DOJ’s motion for partial summary judgment.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

This Court has already explained the factual background in detail in its prior Memorandum Opinion. See Pinson, 2016 WL 29245, at *1-5, ECF No. 259 at 3-12. The Court assumes familiarity with its pri- or opinion and confines its discussion to the facts most relevant to the present motion.

A. Request No. 2010-12533

In August 2010, Pinson submitted a request to the BOP for (1) inmate handbooks from ADX Florence and (2) documents relating to the use of force against Pinson during November 2007 and any related Administrative Remedy Requests. See Corr. 2d Am. Compl. at 2, ECF No. 32; 3d Christenson Decl. ¶ 5 & Ex. A, ECF No. 293-3; Christenson Decl. ¶ 13 & Ex. 2, ECF No. 147-6. Pinson limited her. request to two hours of search time and 100 pages of information. 3d Christenson Decl, ¶ 5. After the BOP was denied summary judgment by this Court, it reprocessed the request. 3 See 3d Christenson Decl. ¶ 4.

The DOJ released 148 pages of responsive records in full and 32 pages in part, and informed Pinson that it withheld 15 pages in full. Id. ¶ 12 & Ex. B. Exemption 5 was used to withhold several sections of the After Action Review Reports, including the determination, recommendations, and results. See Vaughn Index at 1-7, ECF *346 No. 293-3, Ex. C. Exemption 7(C) and 7(F) were used to withhold a variety of information, including sections of documents naming government employees and inmates. See Vaughn Index at 1-7. Exemption 7(F) was also used to withhold the sections of documents which contained “security information used by the BOP to manage inmates and ensure the safety of the institution and the times certain activities occurred” as well as “the BOP’s monitoring and classification assignments for Pinson.” See, e.g., Vaughn Index at 3, 4, 7. Exemption 7(C) was used to withhold in full a document assessing a staff injury, and Exemptions 7(C) and 7(F) were used to withhold the daily assignment rosters for facility staff. See Vaughn Index at 3, 6-7. The DOJ now moves for summary judgment on the grounds that its search was adequate and that it produced to Pinson all responsive records after properly withholding, some records. 4 See Defs.’ 3d MSJ at 1-2; Vaughn Index at 1-7.

B. Request No. 2011-843 5

In October 2010, Pinson submitted a request to the BOP seeking production of the (1) Rated Capacity Computation Form (EMS-36); (2) Site Safety and Control Plan (ICS Form 208); (3) Incident Roster and Activity Log (ICS Form 214); and (4) Incident Action Plan Safety Analysis (ICS Form 215a), all for FCI Talladega. See 3d Christenson Decl. ¶44 & Ex. D; Greene Deck ¶ 7 & Ex. 1, ECF No. 147-5. A Rated Capacity Computation Form is completed by institutions “to determine and report their rated capacity and total capacity for overall strategic planning.” 3d Christenson Deck ¶ 45. The various ICS forms are part of an incident management system adopted by the BOP that has not yet been activated at FCI Talladega. See id. ¶¶ 47-48. Pinson limited her request to two hours of search time and 100 pages of information. See id. ¶ 44; Greene Deck Ex. 1. By letter dated December 2, 2010, the BOP informed Pinson that no responsive documents had been located. See Greene Deck ¶7 & Ex. 2. The DOJ’s Office of Information Policy (“OIP”) closed Pinson’s appeal of that determination due to pending litigation in this case, see id. ¶ 7 & Ex. 4, but, in fight of the previous litigation, the BOP later conducted another search “in additional areas” for responsive documents and located 4 pages that were released to Pinson in full, see Blanco Deck ¶10 & Attach. 1, ECF No. 147-4. The Court denied the DOJ’s first motion for summary judgment because the BOP failed to provide a detailed affidavit setting forth the search terms and type of search performed to locate records responsive to Request No. 2011-843. See Pinson, 2016 WL 29245, at *18; ECF No. 259 at 40-41.

After the Court issued that opinion the BOP re-processed Request No. 2011-843. See 3d Christenson Deck ¶4. The DOJ released 3 additional pages of responsive records in full and 1 page in part, id. ¶ 49 & Ex. E, and informed Pinson that it redacted a staff phone number under Exemptions 7(C) and 7(F), see Vaughn Index at 8. The DOJ now again moves for summary judgment, this time on the grounds that its search was adequate and that it produced all responsive records not properly withheld. See Defs.’ 3d MSJ at 1-2; Vaughn Index at 8.

*347 C. Request No. 2011-1351

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Bluebook (online)
236 F. Supp. 3d 338, 2017 WL 663523, 2017 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 22981, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pinson-v-us-department-of-justice-dcd-2017.