| WILLIAM CANNON, JR., Plaintiff-Appellant, v. TROY QUINLEY, ROGER WALKER, CLETUS R. SHAW, RICHARD L. ROBINSON, STEPHEN D. MOTE, and DONALD N. SNYDER, JR., Defendants-Appellees. | ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) | Appeal from Circuit Court of Livingston County No. 03MR109 Honorable |
JUSTICE STEIGMANN delivered the opinion of the court:
In September 2003, plaintiff, William Cannon, Jr., filed a pro se petition for writ ofmandamus relief, alleging that defendants, Stephen D. Mote, warden of the Pontiac CorrectionalCenter; Troy Quinley, a Pontiac correctional officer superintendent; Donald N. Snyder, Jr., theDirector of the Department of Corrections (DOC); and DOC employees Roger Walker and Cletus R.Shaw, failed to follow DOC rules and violated his due process rights during September, October, andNovember 2002 disciplinary proceedings. One day later, the trial court sua sponte dismissed Cannon'spetition for failure to state a cause of action. Cannon appeals; and we affirm in part, reverse in part,and remand for further proceedings.
On September 11, 2002, DOC cited Cannon, who was then an inmate at Pontiac, inan inmate disciplinary report (IDR). The IDR, which was written by DOC correctional officer MichaelBurger, indicated that around noon on September 11, 2002, Burger observed Cannon standing insidehis cell at his door yelling. Burger told Cannon that he was going to issue an IDR because Cannon wasviolating a January 1, 2002, written memorandum from Quinley prohibiting excessive noise. Cannonresponded by yelling, "Burger[,] you're a white racist mother fucking honkie! I don't care about afucking ticket you white racist mother fucker!" The IDR charged Cannon with (1) willfully disobeying afacility rule (DOC Rule 404)--namely, the excessive-noise memorandum, and (2) insolence (DOC Rule304). See 20 Ill. Adm. Code