Prisoners may be bad people, right? Violent, dangerous, incorrigible; ruiners-of-other-peoples'-lives. But nowhere in the Freedom of Information Act does it say the act is designed solely for good people.

So Suits & Sentences is always a little bit heartened when anyone, even a convicted inmate, secures some informational satisfaction through FOIA. On Wednesday, federal inmate Anthony Ray didn't exactly win a FOIA fight, but neither did he outright lose. And sometimes, that counts as a victory of sorts.

Broadly, Ray complains that the Bureau of Prisons systematically delays processing FOIA requests from prisoners in violation of the law. The Bureau until now has ignored this claim, but in a procedural decision Tuesday U.S. District Judge Richard W. Roberts directed the Bureau to formally respond to the claim.

More narrowly, Ray is demanding documents containing the testing of a urine sample -- to be precise, "Urine specimen #BOI652926." Presumably, this is one that tested positive for drugs and subjected him to punishment. After three months, Ray still hadn't received a reply from the Bureau of Prisons. As Judge Roberts noted:

"The BOP acknowledges that it mishandled Ray’s FOIA request upon receipt, and did not begin its search for responsive documents until after this lawsuit was filed."

Speculation: Federal agency officials lack incentive to provide exemplary service for disfavored populations, such as inmates.

Roberts declined the Bureau's request for summary judgment, ordering it instead to provide more information about how it responded to the FOIA request.