Illinois Department of Corrections

A prisoner was put in solitary for a month for writing a letter to former Gov. Quinn denouncing him in obscene terms over the prisoner’s cell conditions. A federal judge ruled that two prison officials violated the Constitution when they sent the inmate to solitary confinement for a month because they found him “insolent” for writing the letter.

Illinois convicted sex offenders find that when their prison sentence ends, they cannot get out of custody. Instead, they are held indefinitely unless and until they find housing that — a federal lawsuit contends — is a nearly impossible task.