Jones v. Brownlee
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-07501
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Chasan Jones v. Careesha Brownlee, Judge Swain ordered Jones to pay filing fees or request permission to proceed without prepayment.
Chasan Jones must either pay $405 or submit the required fee-waiver application and prisoner authorization within 30 days. The case will be processed if he complies and dismissed if he does not; no summons has issued yet.
What happened
Chasan Jones, who is incarcerated and representing himself, filed this case against Careesha Brownlee without paying the required fees or submitting the forms needed to request permission to proceed without prepayment.
The court gave Jones 30 days from September 12, 2025, to either pay $405 or submit a signed application and authorization allowing installment payments from his account. The court said no summons would issue yet.
Judge Swain ordered that the case be processed if Jones complies and stated that the action will be dismissed if he does not. She also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees.
The detailed version
- Jones v. Brownlee · No. 1:25-cv-07501
- Laura Swain
- Sept. 12, 2025
Background
Chasan Jones filed this civil action against Careesha Brownlee. The opinion states that Jones is incarcerated at Lakeview Shock Correctional Facility and is representing himself. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.
What the court required
The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action 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 that application, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
The court gave Jones 30 days from the date of the order to pay the fees or submit the completed application and authorization. The documents must identify docket number 25-CV-7501 (LTS). No summons will issue at this time.
Ruling and effect
Judge Laura Taylor Swain ordered that the case be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures if Jones complies. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The court also certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The opinion cautioned that a future dismissal of a prisoner's federal civil action as frivolous, malicious, or failing to state a claim may count as a strike under the applicable federal statute.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.