The Virginia Department of Corrections came under national scrutiny in September when visitors learned they would not be allowed to wear tampons or menstrual cups, citing them as an apparent contraband risk. A FOIA request for a more thorough explanation of the tampon ban - through policy documents and a log of contraband incidents alluded to in the Times - revealed a two-month wait of rejection, denial and, finally, the single-page document behind the ban.

Private prison company CoreCivic sees growth in demand from U.S. Marshals Service as part of its forward-moving plan.

State Departments of Corrections nationwide are regularly taken to court by employees and inmates, and returns from an initial round of MuckRock requests begin to provide some insight into how prevalent those conflicts are.

Fees, bane of the FOIA requester’s existence, are an unfortunate everyday hurdle in the fight for the freedom of information. But some states go beyond the common reimbursements that agencies - local to federal - levy against individuals for the costs of copies or the self-determined hours of disruption caused by searching.