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Pitts v. DOJ, No. 19-1784, 2021 WL 2188142 (D.D.C. May 28, 2021) (Berman Jackson, J.)

Date

Pitts v. DOJ, No. 19-1784, 2021 WL 2188142 (D.D.C. May 28, 2021) (Berman Jackson, J.)

Re:  Request for certain records concerning plaintiff, as well as a specific congressional report

Disposition:  Granting defendants' renewed partial motion for summary judgment

  • Procedural Requirements, Searching for Responsive Records:  "The Court concludes that BOP's initial response to plaintiff's FOIA request was reasonable, as was its subsequent search for cost data particular to the Federal Correctional Complex in Florence, Colorado."  "Further, the Court accepts BOP's representation that '[t]here is no basis to believe that the BOP currently possesses any nonexempt documents or information responsive to the FOIA request that has not already been released to [p]laintiff.'"  The court relates that "[i]nitially, BOP did not conduct a search for responsive records on the belief that the agency 'does not maintain records that reveal the costs of incarceration for any individual inmate,' instead 'maintain[ing] cost and budget data for Federal Correctional Complexes, or individual institutions if they are stand-alone facilities.'"  "[BOP] subsequently opined that BOP could 'run reports concerning the costs of incarceration for its institutions” and that such reports 'would be reasonably responsive to [p]laintiff's . . . request[.]'"  "That search yielded a one-page document 'reflecting the costs of incarceration for the Federal Correctional Complex in Florence Colorado,' and including 'the cost of staff salaries and benefits, food and medical services, and the total daily cost' to operate the Complex for the preceding five years."  The court finds that "[m]issing from plaintiff's response is any argument to counter BOP's representation that the agency does not maintain cost data for any particular inmate in its custody."  "Nor does plaintiff address BOP's representation that, to respond directly to his FOIA request, the agency would be required to create records that ordinarily it does not maintain."  "FOIA imposes no such obligation."
     
  • Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search:  The court relates that " Plaintiff has obtained copies of, and no longer demands release of, a report of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform and returned correspondence."  "These matters no longer are in dispute."
Court Decision Topic(s)
District Court opinions
Litigation Considerations, Adequacy of Search
Procedural Requirements, Searching for Responsive Records
Updated June 17, 2021