To file a Petition, the Petitioner will complete and sign a Petition for Writ of Habeas Corpus re. The Writ of Habeas Corpus protects prison inmates from false imprisonment to ensure people are not thrown into jail unlawfully.Generally, a writ of habeas corpus is a civil remedy that challenges the legality of a person's detention or confinement. Filing information, such as fees, general filing procedures and pro se procedures, can all be found in the General Filing Procedures Manual below. Understand the key differences between an appeal and a writ of habeas corpus, including their purposes, processes, and when to use each in legal cases. A writ of habeas corpus is a court order requesting that a prisoner be brought before the court to determine whether the prisoner's incarceration is lawful. The habeas petition is for situations when a legal error occurred, as we say, outside the "four corners" of the court file. The § 2254 allows us to bring U.S. Constitutional Issues into a Federal Court (U. As a procedural remedy, it applies when detention results from neglect of legal process, but not when the lawfulness of the process itself is in question. It almost never is the case that filling out a form is sufficient, unless the only goal is to get the prisoner transported to a courtroom.