IL Prisoners Have No Right to a Valid Classification System by State prosecutors' use of extreme language and personal opinion in letters that they are required to submit to the department of corrections for use in making initial prison security classifications of newly committed prisoners does not violate the constitution …
Infestation Violates 8th Amendment by Several pretrial detainees in the Cook County jail in Chicago filed suit over rodent infestation at the jail. Several of the plaintiffs claimed they had been bitten by rats, one was attacked by a swarm of mice. Administrative grievances and complaints to jail officials failed …
Informant Sues Over Disclosure by Steve Rutledge is an informant in the Illinois state prison system. While housed at the Joliet prison he informed on members of the North Side gang who were planning an escape attempt. As a result, the would-be escapees were segregated, infracted and punished. Prison officials …
Chicago Police Torture Suspects by [Generally PLN only reports on cases involving prison civil rights issues or the occasional procedural matter affecting pro se litigants. This is a police brutality case which we present more for it's informational value than it's relevance to prison litigation. All too often we hear …
Minor Detainees Entitled to Education by Twenty-three school age detainees in the Cook County Jail (Chicago, Illinois) filed suit alleging they were either denied complete access to regular and special educational services during their period of pre-trial detention or received services vastly inferior to those provided non-detainees. The plaintiff prisoners …
Shackling of Con Litigants Discussed by Joe Woods is an Illinois state prisoner. He sued prison officials claiming his eighth amendment rights were violated when they did not feed him for two days during a lockdown. A jury ruled in favor of the prison official defendants. Woods appealed claiming that …
Conditions Habeas Requires Administrative Exhaustion by Raleigh Irby is a prisoner at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) in Chicago. He petitioned the district court for release under 28 U.S.C. § 2241 (the habeas corpus statute) because he was not receiving adequate medical treatment for severe congenital disk disease. The …
BOP Must Disclose Program Statement by George Cowsen-El is a federal prisoner at Marion, Illinois. He filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Bureau of Prisons (BOP) seeking disclosure of BOP program statement 5511.2, which deals with stand up counts. He also sought disclosure, under the Privacy …
Dime Down by Bill Dunne By Bill Dunne The lockdown at the U.S. Penitentiary at Marion, Illinois, is now a decade old. The magnitude of the decades in human experience is obvious in the marking of cultural epochs--the sixties, the fifties, the eighties. It even emerges in popular music as …
Prosecutorial Liability Explained by Stephen Buckley sought damages, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, from prosecutors for fabricating evidence during the preliminary investigation of a highly publicized rape and murder case in Illinois, and form making false statements as a press conference announcing the return of an indictment against him. He …
Qualified Immunity for Black Box by Paul Knox is an Illinois state prisoner. After prison officials discovered four knives in his cell, Knox was infracted, found guilty and placed in segregation. Pursuant to prison policy, every time Knox left the segregation unit, to receive visitors, go to the hospital or …
Prosecutorial Liability Explained by Stephen Buckley sought damages, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, from prosecutors for fabricating evidence during the preliminary investigation of a highly publicized rape and murder case in Illinois, and for making false statements at a press conference announcing the return of an indictment against him. He …
Biased Hearing Officer Violates Due Process by Biased hearing Officer Violates Due Process Robert Ramirez is a federal prisoner. He had been imprisoned at the US penitentiary in Marion, IL, and had gone through that prison's transfer process and was moved to Leavenworth. While at Leavenworth Ramirez was infracted for …
Prison Flooded by We at Menard are suffering the ravages of the Mississippi river flooding. Because of the flooding, all normal services are up in the air. We are given potable water in half ounce little milk containers, and not in sufficient quantities to wash with. The prevailing wind comes …
Prohibition of Beatings Well Established Law by Steven Hill was a jail prisoner in the Tazewell County, IL, jail. When ordered to leave his cell to clear it for another prisoner Hill questioned why he was being moved. William Shelander, a guard, responded by grabbing Hill's hair and shoulder, pulling …
Right to Hot Water Clearly Established by Philip Mathews is an Illinois state prisoner. While he was confined in the segregation unit of the Stateville prison he was held in a cell without hot water for eleven months. His repeated oral and written requests that the hot water be fixed …
Federal Tort Claims Act Requires Exhaustion by William McNeil was a federal prisoner who was without counsel when he filed his suit under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA). The complaint sought money damages arising from his alleged injury by the U.S. Public Health Service. McNeil submitted a claim for …
No Right to Cross Dress by Tonya Star, AKA Anthony Jones, is an Illinois state prisoner. Star filed suit contending prison officials had violated his first amendment and equal protection rights by refusing to allow him to wear women's clothing and makeup. Star did not claim to be a transsexual …
Opening Legal Mail States Claim by Miguel Castillo is an Illinois state prisoner. He filed suit under § 1983 after three pieces of legal mail were opened by Cook County Jail officials in an eight month period. The items of "legal mail were marked legal mail," two came from the …
Shackling Plainitff Violates Right to Fair Trial by Edward Lemons is an Illinois state prisoner. He claimed that while in segregation he was attacked and severely beaten by prison guards. When his case went to trial the judge went along with the defendant's request that Lemons be handcuffed and manacled …
