Fillmore v. Taylor

Plaintiff, an inmate in custody of Illinois Department of Corrections, sued 3 officers of Department for failing to follow mandatory legal procedures before imposing discipline upon him for violating prison rules. Plaintiff sought writ of mandamus, declaratory relief, and common-law writ of certiorari. With limited exceptions, non of the disciplinary actions in Department's regulations impose atypical and significant hardship on inmate in relation to ordinary incidents of prison life. Thus, regulations do not create a right of action that allows inmates to file suit in state court to compel correctional officers to comply with regulations. Plaintiff fails to state a claim for mandamus or common-law writ of certiorari. Plaintiff sufficiently pled that Defendant's denial of Plaintiff's witnesses and documentary evidence without an explanation violated his due process rights. (KARMEIER, KILBRIDE, GARMAN, and THEIS, concurring; BURKE and NEVILLE, specially concurring.)