In re: Richard Sheppard

Background

Richard Sheppard filed this civil action while incarcerated at the Rikers Island – West Facility Annex and without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Fees and required filings

The court explained that a prisoner starting a civil action must either pay $405 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $55 for the administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepaying fees by submitting a signed fee-waiver application and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the fee-waiver application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires collection of the $350 filing fee through installments deducted from the prisoner's account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to provide certified account statements for the previous six months and to make the required deductions.

Order

The court ordered Sheppard, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $405 in fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 1:25-CV-4521 (LTS). No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that, if Sheppard complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.

The court certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for purposes of an appeal. The order also cautioned that certain future dismissals could count as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g). Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order.