Jenkins v. United States of America

Background

Darrell Jenkins, who was incarcerated at MDC Brooklyn and was representing himself, filed this civil action without paying the required filing fees. He also did not submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Payment or fee-waiver requirements

The court explained that a prisoner starting a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or request authorization to proceed without prepaying fees. If that request is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner's account under the Prison Litigation Reform Act. The prisoner authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and send the court certified account statements for the preceding six months.

The court ordered Jenkins, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 or submit the required application and prisoner authorization. The documents were to identify docket number 19-CV-10586 (CM).

Disposition

The Clerk was directed to assign the case to Judge McMahon, mail Jenkins a copy of the order, and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. If Jenkins complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed. The order did not decide the underlying claims.

Judge McMahon certified that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner-filing statute, and that three strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.