Illinois FOIA & OMA Reference: 7(1)(b-5) https://illinoisfoia.org/exemptions/7-1-b-5/ 2026-09-30T00:00:00Z Madison County Sheriff's Office violated FOIA by withholding restraint chair incident reports https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/2026-pac-95139/ 2026-09-30T00:00:00Z A public body must prove by clear and convincing evidence that an exemption applies, and exemptions are read narrowly. The sheriff's office denied a request for incident reports about restraint-chair use at the jail in its entirety under the private-information exemption (7(1)(b)) and the personal-privacy exemption (7(1)(c)), then added 7(1)(b-5), which covers law enforcement databases specifically designed to inform officers of a person's physical or mental status. The PAC held that discrete it City of Joliet FOIA partial violation for redacting phone number and hospital name https://illinoisfoia.org/opinions/letter-58607/ 2023-05-25T00:00:00Z A reporter requested police reports from the City of Joliet, but the City redacted portions of the records, citing several FOIA exemptions. The Illinois Attorney General's office reviewed the unredacted records and found that most redactions were proper, but two specific items—a business phone number and the name of a treating hospital—were not exempt. The office requested that the City provide the reporter with copies of the non-exempt portions of the narrative sections.