Citations
- 741 F. Supp. 2d 156
Full opinion text
OPINION
PAUL L. FRIEDMAN, District Judge.
This matter is before the Court on two separate motions to dismiss or, in the alternative, for summary judgment filed on behalf of the Federal Bureau of Prisons (“BOP”), a component of the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”). For the reasons discussed below, plaintiffs claims under the Privacy Act, see 5 U.S.C. § 552a, will be dismissed. Regarding plaintiffs claims under the Freedom of Information Act (“FOIA”), see 5 U.S.C. § 552, summary judgment will be granted in part and denied in part.
I. BACKGROUND
At all times relevant to the complaint, plaintiff was a federal prisoner designated to the Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix, New Jersey (“FCI Fort Dix”). According to the BOP’s Inmate Locator, plaintiff was released on July 2, 2010.
A. Request No. 2007-08381
On July 21, 2007, plaintiff submitted a FOIA request to the BOP, Compl. ¶ 5, for the following information:
1. List of visitors and dates of visits received at [the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania] from July 23, 2003 thru March 2005, at [the Federal Correctional Institution in Elkton, Ohio] from March 2005 thru September 2006 and at FCI Fort Dix from September 2006 to date.
2. A list of Fine payments made thru the BOP’s [Financial Responsibility Program] from March 2005 thru July 2007.
Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment [Dkt. # 14] (“Def.’s Mem.”), Declaration of Vanessa Herbin-Smith (“HerbinSmith Deck”), Ex. 2 (Privacy Act Request dated July 21, 2007). In addition, plaintiff requested “a waiver of fees since [he was] without any funds to pay for excess copies that might be required.” Id. On July 31, 2007, the BOP denied plaintiffs fee waiver request. Id., Ex. 3 (Letter from H.J. Sadowski, Regional Counsel, Northeast Regional Office, BOP, regarding FOIA Request No. 2007-08381). Apparently no further action was taken with respect to this request.
B. Request No. 2008-06038
On March 28, 2008, plaintiff submitted a similar request to the BOP seeking the following information:
1. a list of visits that I received while in the custody of [the BOP] giving the names of the visitors, the date of the visit, length of the visit and,
2. a list detailing all payments withdrawn from my prison account under the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program ... showing the date of the payment, the amount of each payment and to which Criminal Judgement and Commitment ORder [sic] it was applied.
Herbin-Smith Deck, Ex. 6 (Privacy Act Request to the FOIA/PA Unit, BOP). The BOP located 25 pages of records responsive to the request, which had been assigned Request No. 2008-06038. HerbinSmith Deck ¶¶ 9-10. Of these 25 pages, the BOP released five pages in full and redacted certain information from the remaining pages “because they contain third-party information and information intended for staff use only.” Id. ¶ 10. Relying on FOIA Exemptions 2, 6 and 7(C), these 20 pages of records were released in redacted form. Id. Among the records released was “a 2-page Inmate Visitor List from [plaintiffs] Inmate Central File.” Id. ¶11.
Plaintiff filed an administrative appeal of the BOP’s determination with the DOJ’s Office of Information Policy (“OIP”) challenging the completeness of the BOP’s response and the format of the records regarding payment of court-ordered judgments. Id. ¶ 14; see generally id., Ex. 8 (July 10, 2008 letter to the Office of Inform/Privacy [sic], DOJ). The list of visits “only included those persons that are currently on [his] visitor list,” and therefore the list he received was not the “complete” list he requested. Id., Ex. 8 at 2. For example, the list did not include visits from his former attorney, his significant other, and probation officers, and it did not indicate the length of each visit. Id. In addition, plaintiff asserted that the BOP’s response to his request for a list detailing all payments withdrawn from his prison account under the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program was incomplete because it did not indicate by criminal case number the amount credited toward each fine owed. Id.
On October 28, 2008, the OIP remanded the matter to the BOP, Compl. ¶ 8, with instructions to “process the visitor logs responsive to [plaintiffs] request for release determinations, and provide [plaintiff] with any and all releasable records, subject to any fees,” Herbin-Smith Deck, Ex. 9 (October 28, 2008 Administrative Appeal Remand Memorandum).
On remand, the BOP conducted an additional search and located 94 pages of records. Herbin-Smith Decl. ¶¶ 16-17. Staff construed the request as one for “entries in a log book maintained at the entrance to each institution in which [plaintiff] was housed when he received a visitor.” Id. ¶ 16. Accordingly, staff at each facility obtained the actual log book or books for the relevant time period and looked for “any entry indicating [that plaintiff had] received a visit.” Id. If he had, staff copied the appropriate page. Id. The BOP released two pages of records in full and 92 pages of records in part after having redacted information under FOIA Exemptions 2, 6 and 7(C). Id. ¶ 17; see id., Ex. 10 (October 23, 2009 letter from H.J. Sadowski).
C. Request No. 2010-00258
On September 6, 2009, plaintiff submitted a request to the BOP for the following information in paper format:
1. all electronic communications, commonly referred to as Email, that was [sic] either generated or received from computers used by staff in Unit 5702 at FCI Fort Dix, NJ after April 1, 2009 to date that have any part of that communication my name or regulation number 40775-050.
2. all written memorandums [sic] written or received by 5702 unit staff that was a part of that memorandum my name or registration number 40775-050.
Memorandum of Points and Authorities in Support of Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment [Dkt. # 27] (“Def.’s 2d Mem.”), Declaration of Donna Johnson (“Johnson Decl.”), Ex. 1 (Privacy Act Request dated September 6, 2009); Supp. Compl. ¶ 13. On February 18, 2010, the BOP released three pages of records in full. Johnson Decl. ¶ 4; see id., Ex. 2 (Letter from H.J. Sadowski, with attachments).
II. DISCUSSION
A. The BOP’s Motions to Dismiss:
Privacy Act Claims
Plaintiff brings this action under the Privacy Act, see 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g), alleging that the BOP has denied him access to records pertaining to him in violation of 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(l), Compl. ¶ 11, and demanding injunctive relief to compel disclosure of the requested records on an expedited basis and at no cost to him. See id. at 3. The BOP moves to dismiss plaintiffs complaint in part on the ground that it fails to state a claim under the Privacy Act. See Def.’s Mem. at 4-7; Def.’s 2d Mem. at 10-11.
1. Information Pertaining to Visitors
The Privacy Act permits an individual to request “access to his record or to any information pertaining to him which is contained in the system, [and] permit him ... to review the record and have a copy made of all or any portion thereof in a form comprehensible to him[.]” 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(l) (emphasis added). For purposes of the Privacy Act, the term “record” means “any item, collection, or grouping of information about an individual that is maintained by an agency ... and that contains his name, or the identifying number, symbol, or other identifying particular assigned to the individual.” 5 U.S.C. § 552a(a)(4). A record, then, must be “about” an individual, and it “must contain the individual’s name or other identifying particular.” Tobey v. Nat’l Labor Relations Bd., 40 F.3d 469, 471 (D.C.Cir.1994); see also Leighton v. Cent. Intelligence Agency, 412 F.Supp.2d 30, 39 (D.D.C. 2006). Both of these “twin requirements” must be satisfied in order to qualify as a record under the Privacy Act. Scarborough v. Harvey, 493 F.Supp.2d 1, 15 (D.D.C. 2007). “[T]he fact that information contains an individual's name does not mean that the information is ‘about’ the individual.” Tobey v. Nat’l Labor Relations Bd., 40 F.3d at 471; see also Fisher v. Nat’l Insts. of Health, 934 F.Supp. 464, 468, 471 (D.D.C.1996). As the D.C. Circuit elaborated:
[W]e interpret 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(l) to give parties access only to their own records, not to all information pertaining to them that happens to be contained in a system of records. For an assemblage of data to qualify as one of [the plaintiffs] records, it must not only contain his name or other identifying particulars but also be “about” him. That is, it must actually describe him in some way.
Sussman v. U.S. Marshals Serv., 494 F.3d 1106, 1121 (D.C.Cir.2007) (internal citation omitted); see also Aguirre v. SEC, 671 F.Supp.2d 113, 121 (D.D.C.2009).
With respect to plaintiffs request for a list of visitors, the BOP argues that the information plaintiff seeks does not pertain to him and therefore does not qualify as a “record” for purposes of the Privacy Act. Def.’s Mem. at 4-5. Following this theory, plaintiff is not entitled to injunctive relief because under the Privacy Act he is not allowed access to records that relate to individuals or entities other than himself. Id. at 5. And because the BOP has located and disclosed some information pertaining to plaintiffs visitors, it argues that it has not denied him access to information in violation of 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(l). Def.’s Mem. at 7. Plaintiff counters that he “does not ask for, nor does he expect to receive any addresses or phone number[s],” but rather “seeks ... information pertaining to ‘his’ visitors.” Plaintiffs Opposition to Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss or, in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment (“Pl.’s Opp’n”) at 2. The records he received “did provide a partial list of the names, dates and times of visits ... [but] the list omitted the names, dates and times of visits by his former counsel, former girlfriend, and U.S. Probation Officers.” Id. Plaintiff, then, is requesting information including the names of or other identifying particulars assigned to individuals other than himself.
The visitor information plaintiff requests certainly pertains to him in a generic sense — the visitors came to see him at the various BOP facilities where he had been incarcerated, and these visitors necessarily are linked to plaintiff. Even if the information he seeks includes his name and identifying number (in this case his federal register number), the balance of the information requested pertains to the third party visitors personally; the information is not “about” the plaintiff and therefore is not a “record” as the D.C. Circuit has defined the term. See Tobey v. Nat’l Labor Relations Bd., 40 F.3d at 471; see also Aguirre v. SEC, 671 F.Supp.2d at 121; Leighton v. Cent. Intelligence Agency, 412 F.Supp.2d at 39.
2. Information Maintained in the Inmate Central Record System and TRUFACS
The BOP further argues that, with respect to plaintiffs demand for records maintained in the Inmate Central Record System, plaintiffs supplemental complaint fails to state a Privacy Act claim because this system of records is exempt from 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g). Def.’s 2d Mem. at 10-11.
The Privacy Act allows an individual access to an agency’s records or information in a system of records pertaining to him, 5 U.S.C. § 552a(d)(l), allows him to file a civil action against an agency which denies him access, 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g)(2)(B), and authorizes the Court to “enjoin the agency from withholding the records and order the production to the complainant of any agency records improperly withheld from him.” 5 U.S.C. § 552a(g)(3)(A). Notwithstanding the relief ostensibly available under the Privacy Act, an agency’s Director may promulgate regulations to exempt any system of records within the agency from any part of the Privacy Act, except subsections (b), (c)(1) and (2), (e)(4)(A) through (F), (e)(6), (7), (9), (10), and (11), and (I), if the system of records is:
maintained by an agency or component thereof which performs as its principal function any activity pertaining to the enforcement of criminal laws, including ... correctional, probation, pardon, or parole authorities, and which consists of ... reports identifiable to an individual compiled at any stage of the process of enforcement of the criminal laws from arrest or indictment through release from supervision.