The Public Access Counselor of the Illinois Attorney General’s office (PAC) issued its 11th binding opinion for 2026 finding a public body in violation of FOIA when it denied a request for jail incident reports where those records could have been redacted and released. PAC Op. 26-011.
A reporter submitted a FOIA request to a sheriff’s office seeking incident reports at a county jail relating to the use of restraint chairs. The sheriff’s office denied the request in its entirety, citing to the personal privacy and private information exemptions of FOIA. The reporter filed an appeal with the PAC arguing that the sheriff’s office had previously provided the same types of records with identifying information of the detainees redacted and that the sheriff’s office should have released redacted records in response to this request.
The PAC analyzed the “invasion of personal privacy” claim of the sheriff’s office based on the following four factors:
(l) the requester’s interest in disclosure,
(2) the public interest in disclosure,
(3) the
degree of invasion of personal privacy, and(4) the availability of alternative means of obtaining
the requested information.
The PAC applied the four factors and determined that the public’s and requester’s interest in the disclosure of records that shed light on law enforcement officials performing their official duties outweighed any privacy interests since the names of the detainees could have been redacted to protect the detainees’ identities before the records were released. As a result, the PAC determined that the records should have been released with all identifying information of the detainees redacted.
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