Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) Stipulates to Confidentiality Order
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) Stipulates to Confidentiality Order
In 2005, plaintiff, Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc., filed suit in the district court of New Mexico asserting that New Mexico’s faith-based prison programming violates the establishment clause and seeks to enjoin CCA and the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP), one of the organizations CCA partners with to carry out prison religious programs, from using any state funds to promote, endorse, or establish religion.
The next year, plaintiff moved to compel discovery, and CCA’s response requested entry of a protective order, or alternatively, CCA wanted all documents to be held confidential and sealed during the proceedings, to prevent the documents from being used to further other litigation. The plaintiffs had been unwilling to stipulate that they will not disseminate the materials or use them for future lawsuits.
CCA’s first contention for a protective order was “whenever a prison or prison operator provides documentation to a third person there is an inherent security issue related to some documents produced. However, as CCA admitted, such concerns would not apply to the materials provided to inmates in relation to the faith-based programming. Further, CCA’s attempt to raise a “competitive advantage” or “trade secret” type argument failed to survive the court’s scrutiny.
Based on the federal judiciary’s policies identifying the types of information that should be redacted or filed under seal, the court ordered the parties to work together to identify the information that is related to prison security or other matters that should be confidential and subject to a protective order. See: Freedom Religion v. Richardson, Case no. 1:05-cv-01168-RLP-KBM.
Related legal case
Freedom Religion v. Richardson
| Year | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Cite | Case no. 1:05-cv-01168-RLP-KBM |
| Level | District Court |