Bodden v. New York City Department of Corrections
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-05655
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Bodden v. New York City Department of Corrections, Judge Swain ordered fees or an application to proceed without prepaying fees within 30 days, or dismissal without prejudice.
Sharief Bodden, an incarcerated person proceeding without a lawyer, must either pay the required fees or submit the specified documents within 30 days to avoid dismissal without prejudice.
What happened
Sharief Bodden, who is incarcerated and proceeding without a lawyer, filed this case without paying the required fees or submitting the documents needed to request permission to proceed without prepaying them. The case is Bodden v. New York City Department of Corrections.
The court gave Bodden 30 days to pay $405 in fees or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization allowing installment payments from his account. No response from the defendant was required at this stage.
The order states that the case will be dismissed without prejudice if Bodden does not comply on time. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith. The order did not address the merits of Bodden’s claims.
The detailed version
- Bodden v. New York City Department of Corrections · No. 1:25-cv-05655
- Laura Swain
- July 14, 2025
Background
Sharief Bodden filed a civil action against the New York City Department of Corrections. The opinion states that Bodden is currently incarcerated at West Facility Annex and is proceeding without a lawyer. He submitted the complaint without paying the filing fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
Payment and filing requirements
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $405 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $55 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants the application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to deduct those payments and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
The court ordered Bodden, within 30 days of the order, to choose one of those options. Any application and authorization had to identify docket number 25-CV-5655 (LTS). The court stated that no answer from the defendant was required at that time and that the case would be processed through the Clerk’s Office if Bodden complied.
Ruling and effect
The court ordered payment of the fees or submission of the required application and authorization. It stated that if Bodden failed to comply within the permitted time, the action would be dismissed without prejudice. The order also states that if the filing was not intended to begin a new civil action, Bodden did not need to submit the documents and the action would be dismissed without prejudice or payment.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court did not decide the underlying claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.