Ciccone v. John Doe 1 of NYS Police

Background

Nicholas V. Ciccone filed this civil action while incarcerated at Otisville Correctional Facility. He is representing himself. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying filing fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.

Court’s Order

The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment by submitting both an application and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the fee-waiver application, the $350 filing fee must still be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to provide certified account statements for the previous six months.

The court ordered Ciccone, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $405 in fees or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 1:25-CV-1669 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time. If Ciccone complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed period, the action will be dismissed.

Appeal and Other Warnings

Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order also cautioned that certain future dismissals could count as strikes under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, and that three such strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding without prepaying fees unless an imminent-danger exception applies.

Classification

This is a procedural order concerning the filing-fee and prisoner-authorization requirements. It does not decide the merits of Ciccone’s claims against the defendants.