Pronin v. Federal Bureau of Prisons

CourtDistrict Court, District of Columbia
DecidedMarch 1, 2019
DocketCivil Action No. 2017-1807
StatusPublished

This text of Pronin v. Federal Bureau of Prisons (Pronin v. Federal Bureau of Prisons) 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
Pronin v. Federal Bureau of Prisons, (D.D.C. 2019).

Opinion

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

DMITRY PRONIN,

Plaintiff, v. Civil Action No. 17-1807 (TJK) FEDERAL BUREAU OF PRISONS,

Defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

Plaintiff Dmitry Pronin, proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis, filed this suit against

Defendant Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP), alleging violations of the Freedom of Information

Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552. See ECF No. 1 (“Compl.”). Specifically, Plaintiff challenges

Defendant’s decision to withhold as exempt lists of the names of staff members who work at

three BOP facilities where Plaintiff has been incarcerated. See id. at 5–6; ECF No. 1-1 at 5–6;

ECF No. 26 (“Pl.’s Opp.”) at 2. 1

Currently before the Court is Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss or for Summary Judgment.

ECF No. 24 (“MSJ”). In Plaintiff’s complaint, he does not clarify which of the several FOIA

requests he has made over the past several years—and which portions of those requests—

are the subject of this action. Accordingly, in its motion, Defendant attempts to address all six of

Plaintiff’s prior FOIA requests by making broad, wholesale arguments as to each that it

conducted adequate searches, properly withheld or redacted responsive information under the

applicable exemptions, and otherwise released any segregable information. Id. In his response,

1 The Court refers to the ECF-generated page numbers for all of Plaintiff’s filings in this matter. however, Plaintiff explains that he solely challenges Defendant’s refusal to disclose staff lists for

three BOP facilities. See Pl.’s Opp. at 2.

Defendant, apparently content to rest on its initial filing, never filed a reply. But its

motion falls well short of justifying summary judgment as to the three staff lists Plaintiff has

identified. Accordingly, and for the reasons explained below, Defendant’s motion will be

denied.

Factual and Procedural Background

Plaintiff, a prisoner currently in BOP custody, submitted six FOIA requests to Defendant

between February 2016 through October 2017. See ECF No. 24-2 (“Rodgers Decl.”) at 2–8. On

September 1, 2017, Plaintiff filed a complaint seeking the release of documents withheld by

Defendant in responding to those requests. See Compl. Though Plaintiff did not specify in his

complaint the particular request or requests at issue, he clarified in his responses to Defendant’s

motion that he is only challenging Defendant’s decision to withhold the names and positions of

employees at three BOP facilities: the Federal Correctional Complex (FCC) located in Florence,

Colorado; the United States Penitentiary (USP) and FCC located in Terre Haute, Indiana; and the

FCC located in Beaumont, South Carolina. See Pl.’s Opp. at 1–2, 6, 8; ECF No. 29 (“Pl.’s Supp.

Opp.”) at 3, 5. Accordingly, only two of Plaintiff’s FOIA requests—Request No. 2016-02619

and Request No. 2017-05599—are at issue here. 2 See ECF No. 24-1 (“Def.’s Stmt. Facts”) at 1–

6; Rodgers Decl. at 2–8.

2 A third request—Request No. 2017-00272—also mentions staff lists for “USP Terre Haute, Indiana” and for “USP Florence, Colorado,” ECF No. 24-3, Att. 6, but Plaintiff in that request was merely seeking to administratively appeal his earlier request—Request No. 2016-02619— for the same information. Accordingly, Defendant mistakenly assigned it a separate FOIA- request number. See Rodgers Decl. ¶ 7. Defendant later advised Plaintiff of the correct process for appealing his initial request, and that appeal resulted in the release of additional records.

2 A. Plaintiff’s FOIA Request No. 2016-02619

Defendant received Request No. 2016-02619 on February 19, 2016. Rodgers Decl. ¶ 4.

The request sought, among other records, (1) “[t]he complete list of employees of FCC

‘Florence,’” (2) the “[f]ull name of Physician Assistant Justillano, who was, until 2014,

employed by [BOP] at USP ‘Terre Haute,’” and (3) “[t]he complete list of employees of

USP/FCC ‘Terre Haute.’” ECF No. 24-3, Att. 1. On July 22, 2016, Defendant responded by

informing Plaintiff that, in response to the entirety of his request, it had identified 149 pages of

responsive records and was releasing 93 pages in full and 7 partial pages but withholding 49

pages in full. Rodgers Decl. ¶ 4; ECF No. 24-3, Att. 2. According to BOP, “[m]ost of the pages

withheld in full were lists of the names of BOP staff members.” Rodgers Decl. ¶ 4. In the letter,

Defendant generally cited FOIA Exemptions 2, 6, 7(C), 7(E), and 7(F) as the bases for its

withholdings. Id. (citing 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)). Plaintiff appealed that response to the Department

of Justice Office of Information Policy, which resulted in BOP’s release on March 21, 2017, of

an additional five pages, though the record does not indicate what information those pages

contain. Def.’s Stmt. Facts ¶ 3; Rodgers Decl. ¶ 4.

B. Plaintiff’s FOIA Request No. 2017-05599

Defendant received Request No. 2017-05599 on June 26, 2017. Rodgers Decl. ¶ 9. The

request sought, among other records, a “full and complete list of workers of FCC Beaumont.”

ECF No. 24-3, Att. 9. On July 28, 2017, Defendant responded by informing Plaintiff that, in

response to the entirety of his request, it had identified 53 pages of responsive records and was

releasing 41 pages in full and 12 partial pages. Rodgers Decl. ¶ 9; ECF No. 24-3, Att. 10.

Defendant cited FOIA Exemptions 6, 7(C), and 7(F) for any redactions. ECF No. 24-3, Att. 10

(citing 5 U.S.C. § 552(b)). As to Plaintiff’s specific request for a complete staff list for FCC

3 Beaumont, Defendant stated that FOIA did not require it to “create lists,” only to “provide BOP

generated documents,” and thus it stated that there were no responsive documents to that request.

ECF No. 24-3, Att. 10. It does not appear that Plaintiff administratively appealed this request.

C. Defendant’s January 2018 Letter to Plaintiff

On January 18, 2018, and after Plaintiff had commenced this action, Defendant sent a

letter to Plaintiff further supplementing its responses to both Request No. 2016-02619 and

Request No. 2017-05599. See ECF No. 24-3, Att. 4. Regarding the former request, Defendant

stated that it was re-releasing a single page with fewer redactions, but that it would continue to

redact other information under FOIA Exemptions 6, 7(C), and 7(F). Id. Regarding the latter

request, Defendant also stated that it would release additional pages, with some redactions

remaining pursuant to Exemptions 6, 7(C), and 7(F). Id. And as to Plaintiff’s specific requests

for complete lists of staff members at FCC Beaumont and two other facilities not at issue in this

action, Defendant stated that it would release the names of the wardens at those facilities because

doing so “appear[ed] to outweigh any interest of privacy that those individuals may have, but

that with regard to staff members junior to those wardens, . . . their privacy interests, and safety

interests attendant to their identities, appear[ed] to outweigh any public interest in the release of

their names.” Id.

D. Defendant’s Motion

On June 22, 2018, Defendant filed its motion to dismiss the complaint or, in the

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