(a) Submission and processing procedures.
(1) Requests for any record (including policy) ordinarily will be processed pursuant to the Freedom of Information Act, 5 U.S.C. 552. Your request must be made in writing and addressed to the FOIA Public Liaison Officer, Office of the General Counsel FOIA Office, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia, 633 Indiana Avenue NW., 12th Floor, Washington, DC 20004. The requester should clearly mark on the face of the letter and the envelope “Freedom of Information Act Request.”
(2) Your request will be considered received as of the date it is received by CSOSA's FOIA Office.
(3) Generally, all FOIA requests will be processed in the approximate order of receipt, unless the requester shows exceptional circumstances exist to justify an expedited response (see § 802.8).
(4) You must describe the records that you seek in enough detail to enable Agency personnel to locate them with a reasonable amount of effort. Whenever possible, your request should include specific information about each record sought, such as the date, title or name, author, recipient and subject matter of the record. As a general rule, the more specific you are about the records or type of records that you want, the more likely the Agency will be able to locate the records in response to your request. If a determination is made that your request does not reasonably describe records, the Agency will tell you either what additional information is needed or why your request is otherwise insufficient. You will be given the opportunity to discuss your request so that you may modify it to meet the requirements of this section.
(5)
(i) Requests by offender/defendant for offender's records.
(A) An offender/defendant making a FOIA/PA request must provide his or her full name, current address, and date of birth. In addition, the requester must provide with the request his or her signature, which must be either notarized or sworn under penalty of perjury pursuant to 28 U.S.C. 1746, and dated within three (3) months of the date of the request.
(B) To assist in properly identifying requested records, the OGC and/or FOIA Office may request that the offender/defendant provide his/her DCDC or PDID number.
(ii) Requests for offender records on behalf of an offender/defendant.
(A) A request for records made by an authorized representative of an offender/defendant will only be released with the subject's written authorization with appropriate releases. This authorization and releases must be dated within thirty (30) days of the date of the request letter and must be signed by the offender/defendant.
(B) To assist in properly identifying requested records, the OGC and/or FOIA Office may request that the offender/defendant provided his/her DCDC or PDID number.
(6) You must state in your request a firm agreement to pay the fees for search, duplication, and review as may ultimately be determined. The agreement may state the upper limit (but not less than $10.00) that the requester is willing to pay for processing the request. A request that fees be waived or reduced may accompany the agreement to pay fees and will be considered to the extent that such request is made in accordance with § 802.4(b) and provides supporting information to be measured against the fee waiver standard set forth in § 802.9(g). The requester shall be notified in writing of the decision to grant or deny the fee waiver. If a requester has an outstanding balance of search, review, or duplication fees due for FOIA request processing, the requirements of this paragraph (a)(6) are not met until the requester has remitted the outstanding balance due.
(b) Release determination -
(1) Notification. You will be notified of the decision on the request within twenty (20) days after its receipt (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal public holidays).
(i) The twenty (20) day period shall be tolled if:
(A) The Agency needs clarification and/or more information from the requester; or
(B) Clarification is needed with the requester regarding fee assessment.
(C) The agency's receipt of the requester's response to the agency's request for information or clarification ends the tolling period.
(ii) The twenty (20) day period shall be extended for ten (10) additional working days with written notice to the requester for unusual circumstances.
(A) Unusual circumstances means, but only to the extent reasonably necessary to the proper processing of particular requests -
(1) The need to search for and collect the requested records from field facilities or other establishments that are separate from the office processing the request;
(2) The need to search for, collect, and appropriately examine a voluminous amount of separate and distinct records which are demanded in a single request; or
(3) The need for consultation, which shall be conducted with all practicable speed, with another agency having a substantial interest in the determination of the request or among two or more components of the agency having substantial subject-matter interest therein.
(B) The written notice to the requester for unusual circumstances shall:
(1) Notify the person making the request if the request cannot be processed within the time limit specified;
(2) Provide the person an opportunity to limit the scope of the request so that it may be processed within that time limit or an opportunity to arrange with the agency an alternative time frame for processing the request or a modified request;
(3) Make available the Agency's FOIA Public Liaison Officer, who shall assist in the resolution of any disputes between the requester the Agency; and
(4) Notify the requester of the right of the requester to seek dispute resolution services from the Office of Government Information Services.
(iii) When the Agency fails to comply with the applicable time limit provisions of paragraph (b) of this section, if the Agency can show exceptional circumstances exist and that the Agency is exercising due diligence in responding to the request, the Agency may be allowed additional time to complete its review of the records.
(A) For purposes of this paragraph (b)(1)(iii), the term “exceptional circumstances” does not include a delay that results from a predictable agency workload of requests under this section, unless the agency demonstrates reasonable progress in reducing its backlog of pending requests.
(B) Refusal by a person to reasonably modify the scope of a request or arrange an alternative time frame for processing a request (or a modified request) after being given an opportunity to do so by the Agency to whom the person made the request shall be considered as a factor in determining whether exceptional circumstances exist for purposes of this paragraph (b)(1)(iii).
(2) Denial in whole or in part. If it is determined that the request for records should be denied in whole or in part, the requester shall be notified by mail with a letter stating the basis for partial or whole denial. The letter of notification shall:
(i) Be signed by the Chief FOIA Officer or his or her designee;
(ii) State the exemptions relied on to not release the information;
(A) Advise the requester of the reason of adverse determination and the right to administrative appeal in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section;
(B) Advise the right of such person to seek assistance from the FOIA Public Liaison Officer of the agency; and
(C) Advise the right of such person to seek assistance from the Office of Government Information Services;
(iii) If technically feasible, indicate the amount of information deleted at the place in the record where such deletion is made (unless providing such indication would harm an interest protected by the exemption relied upon to deny such material);
(iv) If a document contains information exempt from disclosure, any reasonably segregable portion of the record will be provided to you after deletion of the exempt portions;
(v) An agency shall -
(A) Withhold information under this section only if -
(1) The agency reasonably foresees that disclosure would harm an interest protected by an exemption described in paragraph (b) of this section; or
(2) Disclosure is prohibited by law; and
(B) Partially withhold information under this section only if -
(1) Partial disclosure of information is possible whenever the agency determines that a full disclosure of a requested record is not possible; and
(2) Take reasonable steps necessary to segregate and release nonexempt information; and
(vi) Nothing in this paragraph (b)(2) requires disclosure of information that is otherwise prohibited from disclosure by law, or otherwise exempted from disclosure by statute.
(3) No records found. If it is determined, after a thorough search for records by the responsible official or his delegate, that no records have been found to exist, the Chief FOIA Officer or his/her designee will so notify the requester in writing. The letter of notification will advise the requester of his or her right to administratively appeal within ninety (90) of the determination that no records exist (i.e., to challenge the adequacy of the search for responsive records) in accordance with paragraph (c) of this section. The response shall specify the official or office to which the appeal shall be submitted for review.
(c) Administrative appeal.
(1) A requester may appeal an initial determination when:
(i) Access to records has been denied in whole or in part;
(ii) There has been an adverse determination of the requester's category as provided in § 802.10(d);
(iii) Inadequacy of the FOIA search;
(iv) A request for fee waiver or reduction has been denied; or
(v) It has been determined that no responsive records exist.
(2) Appeals must be made within ninety (90) days of the receipt of the letter with an adverse determination. Both the envelope and the letter of appeal should be sent to the Office of the General Counsel, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency for the District of Columbia, 633 Indiana Avenue NW., 13th Floor, Washington, DC 20004 and must be clearly marked “Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Appeal.”
(3) The General Counsel will make an appeal determination within twenty (20) days (excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays) from the date of receipt of the appeal. However, for a good reason, this time limit may be extended up to an additional ten (10) days. If, after review, the General Counsel determines that additional information should be released, it will accompany the appeal response. If, after review, the General Counsel determines to uphold the initial review, we will inform you.