All forms below with a "fillable icon" are documents that you can open "on-line", fill in the appropriate fields and then print on your printer. In your petition, clearly explain why you are being held illegally.Federal prisoners in US Marshals custody may lawfully be transferred to the custody of a state or local government pursuant to a state writ of ad prosequendum. The Law Office of Douglas B. Harper represents wrongly convicted Illinois prisoners in post-conviction, federal habeas, and criminal appeals. How to File Habeas Corpus and Compassionate Release David is a law school graduate and former practicing attorney. In the Ross case, the relator, a prisoner in the state penitentiary, filed an original petition for a writ of habeas corpus before the Illinois Supreme Court. First, a U.S.C. § 2254 allows us to file a petition for Habeas Corpus when the client is in custody under sentence of a state court and is in a state prison. The AEDPA establishes a one-year deadline within which state and federal prisoners must file their federal habeas petitions, 28 U.S.C. 2244(d), 2255.