Order Form (01/2005)

United States District Court, Northern District of Illinois

Name of Assigned Judge

or Magistrate Judge

JOAN H. LEFKOW Sitting Judge if Other

than Assigned Judge

CASE NUMBER 12 C 5584 DATE July 19, 2012

CASE

TITLE

Deon Landry (#K-62240) vs. Stateville Correctional Facility, et al.

DOCKET ENTRY TEXT:

The plaintiff is granted thirty days in which either to file an in forma pauperis application on the enclosed form

with the supporting information required by 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2) or pay the full $350 filing fee. The plaintiff

must also submit an amended complaint (plus a judge’s copy and service copies). The clerk is directed to send

the plaintiff an i.f.p. application, an amended complaint form, and instructions along with a copy of this order. 

Failure of the plaintiff to comply with this order within thirty days will result in summary dismissal of this case. 

The plaintiff is reminded that he must provide the court with the original plus a judge’s copy of every document

filed. 

O [For further details see text below.] Docketing to mail notices.

STATEMENT

The plaintiff, an Illinois state prisoner, has brought this pro se civil rights action pursuant to 42 U.S.C.

§ 1983. The plaintiff seems to contend that the overall conditions of his confinement at the Stateville

Correctional Center violate his constitutional rights. The plaintiff alleges that he is kept in a windowless cell

twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week; that his opportunity for calls, visits, and showers are limited; that

he is denied commissary privileges and toiletries; and that he is shackled whenever he goes to court, even while

he eats meals. 

The plaintiff has failed either to pay the statutory filing fee or to file a petition for leave to proceed in

forma pauperis. The Prison Litigation Reform Act requires all inmates to pay the full filing fee, even those

whose cases are summarily dismissed. In all prisoner civil lawsuits, the court must assess an initial partial filing

fee. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). The court will direct correctional officials to deduct the initial filing fee

payment directly from the plaintiff’s trust fund account. Thereafter, correctional authorities having custody of

the plaintiff will be authorized and ordered to make monthly payments to the court of 20% of the preceding

month’s income credited to the trust fund account until such time as the full filing fee is paid.

To enable the court to make the necessary assessment of the initial partial filing fee, the plaintiff must

“submit a certified copy of the trust fund account statement (or institutional equivalent) for the prisoner for the

(CONTINUED)

mjm

Page 1 of 2
STATEMENT (continued)

6-month period immediately preceding the filing of the complaint or notice of appeal, obtained from the appropriate

official of each prison at which the prisoner is or was confined.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(2). Therefore, if the plaintiff

wishes to proceed with this case by making installment payments instead of paying the full filing fee in advance,

he must file an in forma pauperis application on the form required by the rules of this court, together with a

certified copy or copies of his trust fund statements reflecting all activity in his accounts in the past six months [that

is, from January 16, 2012, through July 16, 2012]. 

The plaintiff must also submit an amended complaint (plus a judge’s copy and a sufficient number of copies

for service on each defendant named in the amended pleading), as the complaint on file does not name a proper

defendant. The Stateville Correctional Center is not a suable entity and the Eleventh Amendment bars suit against

the Illinois Department of Corrections, a state agency. See, e.g., Lee v. Lemke, No. 95 C 6277, 1996 WL 166944,

*1 (N.D. Ill. Apr. 8, 1996) (Lefkow, J.) (citing Hughes v. Joliet Correctional Center, 931 F.2d 425, 427 (7th Cir.

1991)); Joseph v. Board of Regents of University of Wisconsin System, 432 F.3d 746, 748 (7th Cir. 2005). The

plaintiff must name as defendants those individuals who are personally and directly responsible for violating his

constitutional rights. 

Before drafting his amended complaint, the plaintiff would be well advised to conduct some basic legal

research in order to avoid the assessment of a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Only constitutional violations

are actionable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. See, e.g., Parker v. Franklin County Community School Corp., 667 F.3d

910, 925 (7th Cir. 2012). At least some of the plaintiff’s complaints do not appear to be matters of constitutional

magnitude, particularly as he is only temporarily subject to the alleged deprivations while confined at Stateville’s

reception and classification center. 

For the foregoing reasons, the court dismisses the complaint on file without prejudice. The plaintiff is

granted thirty days in which to submit an amended complaint on the court’s required form. The plaintiff must write

both the case number and the judge’s name on the amended complaint, sign it, and return it to the Prisoner

Correspondent. As with every document filed with the court, the plaintiff must provide an extra copy for the

judge; he must also submit a service copy for each defendant named in the amended complaint. The plaintiff

is cautioned that an amended pleading supersedes the original complaint and must stand complete on its own. 

Therefore, all allegations against all defendants must be set forth in the amended complaint, without reference to

the original complaint. Any exhibits the plaintiff wants the court to consider in its threshold review of the amended

complaint must be attached, and each copy of the amended complaint must include complete copies of any and all

exhibits. The plaintiff is advised to keep a copy for his files. The clerk will provide the plaintiff with an amended

civil rights complaint form and instructions along with a copy of this order. 

In sum, the plaintiff must: (1) either file a properly completed petition to proceed in forma pauperis or pay

the statutory filing fee; and (2) submit an amended complaint, plus judge’s and service copies. The Clerk will

provide the plaintiff with the necessary forms along with a copy of this order. Failure of the plaintiff to comply

with this order within thirty days will result in summary dismissal of this case. 

Page 2 of 2