Wells v. Caudill

Dist. Ct. did not err in granting defendant-prison official’s motion for summary judgment in plaintiff-former prisoner’s section 1983 action, alleging that defendant violated plaintiff’s 8th Amendment rights by refusing to give him 97-day sentencing credit for second, pre-trial detention on second drug charge for which defendant was convicted. Defendant believed that she could ignore 97-day credit for drug offense that was committed while defendant was on bail for first charged drug offense, since defendant had been in pre-trial custody for both drug charges at same time, and since she believed that Illinois law only applies greatest of multiple credits (plaintiff had received 255-day credit on first drug charge) when plaintiff was in pretrial detention on multiple charges at same time. However, even if defendant was wrong on instant release date calculation, plaintiff failed to present any evidence that defendant had acted with deliberate indifference when calculating his release date. Fact that defendant did her job by determining release date did not establish any intent to punish plaintiff excessively. (Dissent filed.)