Laurence v. Federal Bureau of Prisons

Background

Thomas Barret Laurence filed this civil action against the Federal Bureau of Prisons while incarcerated at the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, Kansas. The order states that he is representing himself. He submitted his complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

Required Filing or Payment

The court explained that a prisoner starting a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—$350 for the filing fee and $50 for the 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 prison trust-fund account. The authorization also directs the prison facility to deduct the payments and provide certified copies of the account statements for the previous six months. The $50 administrative fee does not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees.

Order

Judge Colleen McMahon ordered Laurence, within 30 days of the order, to either pay the $400 in fees or submit the required application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-0072 (CM). The Clerk was directed to assign the matter to Judge McMahon’s docket, mail Laurence a copy of the order, and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time.

If Laurence complies, the case will be processed under the Clerk’s procedures. If he fails to comply within the allowed time, the action will be dismissed. The court certified that an appeal from this order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The court also cautioned that a future prisoner action dismissed as malicious, frivolous, or for failure to state a claim could count as a filing “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).