Holden v. Warden
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07197
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Charles T. Holden v. EMTC Warden, Judge Swain ordered payment or prisoner authorization within 30 days and denied appeal fee waiver.
Charles T. Holden, who must either pay the required fees or submit the required prisoner authorization within 30 days for the case to proceed.
What happened
Charles T. Holden v. EMTC Warden, et al. is a civil case brought by Charles T. Holden, who is incarcerated and is representing himself. He submitted an application to proceed without paying court fees upfront but did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The court gave Holden 30 days from September 2, 2025, to either pay $405 in fees or submit the prisoner authorization. The authorization would allow installment payments of the $350 filing fee from his account and require certified account statements for the previous six months.
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that no summons be issued yet and stated that the case would proceed through the Clerk’s Office if Holden complies. If he does not comply within the deadline, the action will be dismissed. The court also denied permission to appeal without paying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Holden v. Warden · No. 1:25-cv-07197
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 2, 2025
Background
Charles T. Holden, who is incarcerated at the Eric M. Taylor Center on Rikers Island, brought this action without a lawyer. To start a civil case, a prisoner must either pay $405 in fees or request permission to proceed without prepaying those fees. That request is commonly called an application to proceed in forma pauperis, or IFP.
Holden submitted an IFP application but did not submit the separate prisoner authorization required for a prisoner seeking IFP status. That authorization directs the facility holding the prisoner to withdraw the $350 filing fee from the prisoner’s account in installments and to send the court certified statements for the prior six months. The court noted that the $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted IFP status.
Order
The court ordered Holden, within 30 days of September 2, 2025, to do one of two things: pay the full $405 in fees, or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization labeled with docket number 25-CV-7197 (LTS). The court also attached an amended IFP application for Holden to complete if necessary because the opinion states that it was unclear whether he was the same person who received a settlement in an earlier related proceeding.
No summons will issue at this time. If Holden complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office’s procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also certified that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied IFP status for purposes of an appeal.
Classification
This is a procedural order concerning payment of filing fees and the required paperwork. The court did not decide the underlying claims in Holden’s lawsuit.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.