Illinois General Assembly - Illinois Compiled Statutes

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735 ILCS 5/22-105

(735 ILCS 5/22-105)

Sec. 22-105. Frivolous lawsuits filed by prisoners.

(a) If a prisoner confined in an Illinois Department of Corrections facility
files a pleading, motion, or other filing which purports to be a legal document
in a case seeking post-conviction
relief under Article 122 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963,
pursuant to Section 116-3 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963,
in a habeas
corpus action under Article X of this Code, in a claim under the Court of
Claims Act, or a second or subsequent petition for relief from judgment under Section 2-1401 of this Code or in another action against the State, the Illinois Department of
Corrections, or the
Prisoner Review Board, or against any of their officers or employees and the
Court makes a specific finding that the pleading, motion, or other filing which
purports to be a legal document filed
by the prisoner is frivolous, the prisoner is responsible for the full payment
of filing fees and actual court costs.

On filing the action or proceeding the court shall assess and, when funds
exist, collect as a partial payment of any court costs required by law a first
time payment of 50% of the average monthly balance of the prisoner's trust fund
account for the past 6 months.  Thereafter 50% of all deposits into the
prisoner's
individual account under Sections 3-4-3 and 3-12-5 of the Unified Code of
Corrections administered by the Illinois Department of Corrections shall
be withheld until the actual court costs are collected in full.  The Department
of Corrections shall forward any moneys withheld to the court of
jurisdiction.  If a prisoner is released before the full
costs are collected, the Department of Corrections shall forward the amount of
costs collected through the date of release.  The court of jurisdiction is
responsible for sending the Department of Corrections a copy of the order
mandating the amount of court fees to be paid.  Nothing in this Section
prohibits an applicant from filing an action or proceeding if the applicant is
unable to pay the court costs.

(b) In this Section, "frivolous" means that a pleading, motion, or other
filing which
purports to be a legal document filed by a prisoner in his or her lawsuit meets
any or all of the following criteria:

(1) it lacks an arguable basis either in law or in

fact;

(2) it is being presented for any improper purpose,

such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation;

(3) the claims, defenses, and other legal contentions

therein are not warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the establishment of new law;

(4) the allegations and other factual contentions do

not have evidentiary support or, if specifically so identified, are not likely to have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation or discovery; or

(5) the denials of factual contentions are not

warranted on the evidence, or if specifically so identified, are not reasonably based on a lack of information or belief.

(Source: P.A. 95-424, eff. 1-1-08.)