U.S. appeals court: privacy visits.

• Position: Free Speech, Expression, Assoc.

Maydak v. U.S., 363 F.3d 512 (D.C.Cir. 2004). Inmates brought an action against the federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) alleging that the BOP violated the Privacy Act and the statute that established Inmate Trust Funds by maintaining secret file photographs of inmates and their visitors. The district court entered judgment in favor of the BOP and the inmates appealed. The appeals court affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded. The appeals court held that the BOP's maintenance of copies of the photos was permitted by the Privacy Act, but only to the extent that it was pertinent to an authorized law enforcement activity. The photos were taken as part of an "Inmate Photography Program" that offered inmates and their visitors the opportunity to purchase photos taken of them during visits. Inmates paid $1 for each photo, which was deposited in the Inmate Trust Fund, which consists of money spent by inmates at prison commissaries and other Trust Fund programs. The Fund paid for cameras, film, processing and administrative costs associated with the program. The BOP had been obtaining a second set of prints of the photos and secretly keeping them for...