Seventh Circuit Upholds Summary Judgment Against Former Illinois Prison Guards Challenging Termination for Violating Use of Force Policy
by Matt Clarke
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n June 9, 2026, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit upheld a district court’s grant of summary judgment against three former Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC) guards who were fired for violating the DOC’s use-of-force policy. In doing so, the Court held that the policy requiring guards to use force only as a last resort was not unconstitutionally vague.
In protesting a lack of post-surgical supplies that he believed he needed, wheelchair-bound DOC prisoner Deandre Bradley refused to place his hands in the “cuffing port” to have his handcuffs removed after being returned to his cell. In response, instead of activating the tactical team that had specialized training in extracting prisoners from cells, guard Lt. Derek Hundley assembled a team of four other guards, including Robert Kamp and Travis Ochs, to assist him.
When the team entered Bradley’s cell, “he engaged in a flurry of aggressive and disobedient behavior, including at one point standing up from his wheelchair, taking a few steps, and then launching himself onto the ground and laying on top of the handcuffs. He then detached and threw his catheter bag at the guards, struck a tactical shield, and broke an officer’s radio.”
By this time, the team had used force against Bradley and Hundley decided he had to be evaluated by medical staff to determine whether he had been injured. Because medical personnel do not enter prisoners’ cells, Hundley decided to move Bradley to a shower area. A struggle ensued and guards dragged an uncooperative Bradley “out of his cell, across a concrete floor, and into the shower” where Kamp pepper sprayed him because he had grabbed and broken Kamp’s duty belt. The guards tethered Bradley to the shower and he remained there until medical arrived about two hours later.
No team member disclosed that they had dragged Bradley to the shower in their written reports. Instead, they wrote that they “escorted” him to the shower. Ochs wrote that Bradley had been “kicking and swinging” during the escort. Hallway camera footage showed a motionless Bradley being dragged to the shower.
The incident provoked an internal investigation, an administrative hearing and an appeal to the Illinois Civil Service Commission (CSC). The DOC fired Hundley, Kamp and Ochs (Plaintiffs). The CSC concluded that Plaintiffs were aware of other options to using force and had adequate time to implement them but failed to do so before entering the cell. Combined with the false statements on the report, the totality of the circumstances supported termination.
Plaintiffs filed a federal civil rights action against the DOC and the CSC, including executives of both agencies, alleging they were fired for violating an unconstitutionally vague use of force policy in violation of their due process rights. The district court held the policy was not unconstitutionally vague and granted defendants summary judgment. This appeal followed.
Reviewing de novo, the Seventh Circuit held that the use-of-force policy, 20 Ill. Admin. Code §501.30(a) and DOC Admin. Dir. 05.01.173, was not unconstitutionally vague.
The Court wrote, “To sum it up, the rule in this case provided fair, comprehensive warning that force should only be used as a last resort. And even if one might quibble about whether ‘last resort’ means that officers must try any and all other options before reverting to force, this case is not at the margins.” The summary judgment was affirmed. See: Hundley v. Brookhart, 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 16586 (7th Cir.).
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Related legal case
Hundley v. Brookhart
| Year | 2026 |
|---|---|
| Cite | 2026 U.S. App. LEXIS 16586 (7th Cir.) |
| Level | Court of Appeals |