Filed Date: April 13, 2015
Closed Date: Jan. 4, 2017
Clearinghouse coding complete
In February 2015, journalists at The Guardian lead by Spencer Ackerman began publishing a series of articles about Homan Square, a secretive facility operated by the Chicago Police Department. The Guardian alleged that the Department abused people detained there and held detainees incommunicado and without record of their detainment. On March 2, 2015, the Guardian submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the Department for records related to interrogations, detentions, and arrests at Homan Square.
On March 17th, the Department denied the request in its entirety as overly burdensome, citing the fact that arrest records at Homan Square were not kept electronically before 2005. The next day, The Guardian narrowed its request, seeking only those documents on or after January 1, 2005. The Department did not provide a final response to this request.
On April 13, 2015, The Guardian sued the Department in the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois seeking to compel it to provide the requested records, and also seeking attorney's fees and costs and a civil penalty between $2,500 and $5,000. No. 2015-CH-06157. The Guardian amended its complaint on June 18, 2015. In July and August of 2015, the Department released to The Guardian records related to people detained at Homan Square in 7,185 arrests between August 5, 2004 and June 30, 2015. The Guardian published several articles in August and October 2015 detailing their findings from the disclosures. The Guardian published its final article in the Homan Square series on July 29, 2016.
The suit was voluntarily dismissed on January 4, 2017.
Summary Authors
Kevin Decker (8/29/2022)
Jacobius, Moshe (Illinois)
Healey, Brendan J. (Illinois)
Houck, Mona (New York)
Korzenik, David S. (New York)
Mandell, Steven P. (Illinois)
Last updated Dec. 17, 2024, 8:33 p.m.
Docket sheet not available via the Clearinghouse.State / Territory: Illinois
Case Type(s):
Key Dates
Filing Date: April 13, 2015
Closing Date: Jan. 4, 2017
Case Ongoing: No
Plaintiffs
Plaintiff Description:
Subsidiary corporation
Plaintiff Type(s):
Public (for-profit) corporation
Public Interest Lawyer: No
Filed Pro Se: No
Class Action Sought: No
Class Action Outcome: Not sought
Defendants
Chicago Police Department (Chicago, Cook), City
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Outcome
Prevailing Party: Plaintiff
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Amount Defendant Pays: 0