Homeland Security found in violation of open-records law
By Mike Carter, Seattle Times, June 21, 2015
A federal judge has found “egregious” violations of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by the Department of Homeland Security for failing to respond to a request for information about the telephone costs for immigrant detainees.
U.S. District Chief Judge Marsha Pechman, in an order issued Thursday, chastised the department and U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for ignoring Prison Legal News’ FOIA request for information about how the agency determines telephone-call rates for detainees.
The FOIA was part of a larger, mostly successful effort by the advocacy group to control the costs that prison systems and telephone-service contractors charge inmates to make phone calls.
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