Smickle v. The State of New York Department of Correction and Community Services
Randel Smickle v. The State of New York Department of Correction and Community Services
- Laura Swain
- 1:25-cv-09877
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Randel Smickle v. The State of New York Department of Correction and Community Services, Chief Judge Swain ordered fees or a fee-waiver application within 30 days.
Randel Smickle, who is incarcerated and proceeding without a lawyer, must either pay the required fees or submit the specified application and authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
Randel Smickle v. The State of New York Department of Correction and Community Services is a lawsuit filed by Smickle, who is incarcerated and representing himself. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying them.
The court ordered Smickle, within 30 days, either to pay $405 or submit the required application and authorization allowing installment payments from his prisoner account. The case will be processed if he complies; if he does not, the action will be dismissed. No answer is required yet.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain also ruled that any appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied fee-waiver status for an appeal. The order does not decide the underlying claims.
The detailed version
- Smickle v. The State of New York Department of Correction and Community Services · No. 1:25-cv-09877
- Laura Swain
- Dec. 1, 2025
Background
Randel Smickle filed this civil action while incarcerated at Shawangunk Correctional Facility and proceeding without a lawyer. The complaint was submitted without the required filing fees, a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees, or a prisoner authorization.
Payment and application requirements
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 prepaying fees. A prisoner seeking that permission must submit a signed application and authorization. If the application is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s account, and the authorization directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the previous six months. The $55 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted this fee-waiver status.
The court ordered Smickle to pay the $405 or submit the application and prisoner authorization within 30 days of the order. The documents should identify docket number 25-CV-9877 (LTS).
Effect of noncompliance and appeal ruling
The order states that no answer is required at this time. If Smickle complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures. If he does not comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The court also 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 proceed without prepaying fees for such an appeal. The court cautioned that certain future dismissals could count as “strikes” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), subject to the conditions described in the order.
Chief United States District Judge Laura Taylor Swain signed the order. It addresses filing-fee requirements and does not resolve the merits of Smickle’s claims.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.