Background
Kelley Toney is serving a 30-year Illinois Department of Corrections sentence for first degree murder. He filed a pro se mandamus petition seeking sentence credits for participating in IDOC educational programs after January 1, 2018, when Illinois removed a statutory prohibition that had prevented prisoners convicted of first degree murder from earning such credits. Toney alleged that applying the credits would make him eligible for immediate release.
IDOC officials moved to dismiss under section 2-619.1 of the Illinois Code of Civil Procedure. They argued that the credits were discretionary, that Toney was required to serve his entire sentence, and that he had not shown exhaustion of administrative remedies. The Christian County circuit court dismissed the petition, and Toney appealed.
The Court’s Holding
The appellate court affirmed. Taking judicial notice of the indictment from Toney’s criminal case, the court determined that the murder occurred on or about August 1, 1998. Under section 3-6-3(a)(2) of the Unified Code of Corrections, a prisoner serving a sentence for first degree murder committed on or after June 19, 1998, must serve the entire sentence imposed.
Although legislation effective January 1, 2018, permits prisoners convicted of first degree murder to earn certain program credits, those credits cannot reduce a sentence below 100% when the prisoner is required to serve 100%. Because Toney must serve his full 30-year sentence, the requested credits could not reduce his imprisonment. He therefore could not establish the clear right to relief required for mandamus.
Key Takeaways
- A prisoner seeking mandamus must establish a clear right to relief, a clear duty requiring the official to act, and the official’s clear authority to comply.
- Program sentence credits available after January 1, 2018, cannot reduce the sentence of a prisoner who is statutorily required to serve 100% of that sentence.
- A prisoner convicted of first degree murder committed on or after June 19, 1998, must serve the entire sentence imposed.
Why It Matters
The decision clarifies that Illinois’s 2018 expansion of eligibility for earned program sentence credits did not override the truth-in-sentencing requirement applicable to first degree murders committed on or after June 19, 1998. Such prisoners may not use those credits to shorten their required terms of imprisonment.
The order also illustrates that mandamus cannot compel corrections officials to award relief that the governing statute prohibits. The decision was issued under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23 and is nonprecedential except in the limited circumstances allowed by Rule 23(e)(1).