Murphy v. Raoul, No. 16- cv–11471 (N.D. Ill. 2019)

Murphy v. Raoul, No. 16-C–11471 (N.D. Ill. 2019)

Nature of Case: Several plaintiffs were incarcerated in Illinois prisons for sex offenses, and were subject to indeterminate terms of Mandatory Supervised Release (MSR). MSR required that Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and Prisoner Review Board to promulgate and implement restrictions for MSR. Part of MSR would be requiring a suitable host site / residence to be designated that the person would be living in. For people convicted of sex offenses, this came with a number of additional requirements and restrictions.

Plaintiffs in this case were are individuals who had been convicted of sex offenses and had served the entirety of their sentences but remained incarcerated but for the fact of their inability to provide a suitable host site to be released into. Therefore, their incarceration became indefinite.

Holding:  The Court held that IDOC’s application of the guidelines was unconstitutional in two respects: first, it impermissibly violated equal protection in that it treated wealthy people who were incarcerated for sex offenses differently from those who were without resources: those who were wealthy were able to obtain “legal” housing and thus could earn release.

Secondly, the Court held that the IDOC’s application violates the Eighth Amendment, as it effectively is criminalizing and punishing indigency by continuing to incarcerate individuals beyond their release date.