WHAT IS A WRIT OF HABEAS CORPUS?
Defendants who want to challenge the legality of their imprisonment — or the conditions in which they are being imprisoned — may seek help from a court by filing an application for what is known as a “writ of habeas corpus.” A writ of habeas corpus (literally to “produce the body”) is a court order to a person (prison warden) or agency (institution) holding someone in custody to deliver the imprisoned individual to the court issuing the order. Many state constitutions provide for writs of habeas corpus, as does the U.S. Constitution, which specifically forbids the government from suspending writ proceedings except in extraordinary times — such as war. Known as “the Great Writ,” habeas corpus gives citizens the power to get help from courts to keep government and any other institutions that may imprison people in check. In many countries, police and military personnel, for example, may take people and lock them up for months — even years — without charging them, and those imprisone
The writ of habeas corpus is the remedy to be used when any person is restrained in his liberty. It is an order issued by a court or judge of competent jurisdiction, directed to any one having a person in his custody, or under his restraint, commanding him to produce such person, at a time and place named in the writ, and show why he is held in custody or under restraint.
