Prisoner E-Filing Initiative

The U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois has forged a partnership with the Illinois Department of Corrections to allow the electronic transmission of prisoner pleadings to the court for electronic filing by court personnel. The Central District of Illinois and Southern District of Illinois have now partnered to expand this project. Digital senders have been placed at eleven IDOC facilities and one IDHS facility for submitting filings electronically to both district courts.

The documents below are posted as a resource for other courts and state corrections departments who might be interested in this process.

 

Documents Related to Scanning Prisoner Pleadings for E-Filing by the Court

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Instruction Booklet given to the correctional facility staff for guidance.

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General Order for the project expansion signed by the Chief Judges of the Central District of Illinois and the Southern District of Illinois.

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Prisoner e-filing expansion proposal. 8/24/10

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Letter inviting additional facilities to participate in the e-filing program. 8/24/10

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Notes from legal research performed by Laura Briggs, Clerk of Court of the  U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana, and attorneys in her office regarding prisoner e-filing and e-service.

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User manual for the HP 9250c digital sender (courtesy of Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.).

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Layperson's description of the Hewlett-Packard HP digital sender.

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Update by Clerk of Court Pamela Robinson on the status of the prisoner e-filing initiative, March 22, 2010.

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Agreement between the court and the State of Illinois regarding service of process of prisoner pleadings scanned by the correctional center and e-filed by the court.

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Text of Clerk of Court Pamela Robinson's presentation to the District Court Advisory Council (DCAG) regarding the prisoner e-filing initiative.

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Statistics of the first six-months' worth of prisoner pleadings scanned by the correctional facility and e-filed by the court.

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Instructions for court personnel on how to add the correctional facility as a blind party in CMECF so that they receive notices of electronic filing (NEFs).

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Court's General Order 06-1 approving the prisoner e-filing initiative.

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Template for rubber stamp provided to the correctional facility to stamp prisoner pleadings scanned.  This helps the inmates understand that their pleading was scanned and transmitted to the court for filing.

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Court's proposal to allow prisoner pleadings to be scanned at the correctional facility and e-mailed to the court for e-filing by court personnel.

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Cover letter to the Illinois Department of Corrections transmitting the court's proposal to allow prisoner pleadings to be scanned at the correctional facility and e-mailed to the court for e-filing by court personnel.