A writ of habeas corpus is used to bring a prisoner or other detainee (e.g. The Writ of Habeas Corpus protects prison inmates from false imprisonment to ensure people are not thrown into jail unlawfully.Any order denying a petition for writ of habeas corpus must contain a brief statement of the reasons for the denial. Simply put, a writ of habeas corpus calls into question the continued incarceration of an individual. Any of several common-law writs issued to bring a party before a court or judge; especially : habeas corpus ad subjiciendum. Federal habeas corpus is a procedure under which a federal court may review the legality of an individual's incarceration. Prisoners can sometimes use a petition for writ of habeas corpus to challenge the legality of a criminal conviction or inhumane prison conditions. If you are filing this petition in the superior court, you only need to file the original unless local rules require additional copies. Generally, an individual seeking to challenge his or her criminal conviction through a habeas petition must do so in a "timely fashion. In a petition for habeas corpus, a prisoner (or another interested party) raises doubts about the legality of his or her imprisonment.