Washington v. Schneiderman

Background

Landon Lamont Washington filed this civil action without a lawyer while held at the Otis Bantum Correctional Center on Rikers Island. He submitted an application to proceed without prepaying court fees, but he did not submit the required prisoner authorization.

Court’s Instructions

The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or request permission to proceed without prepayment. If permission is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner’s prison trust-fund account. The prisoner authorization permits those deductions and requires the facility to provide certified copies of the account statements for the previous six months.

Within 30 days of the order, Washington had to pay the $400 or complete and submit the attached prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-1550 (CM). The Clerk of Court was directed to mail him the order and record service on the docket. No summons would issue at that time. If Washington complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if he did not comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.

Other Ruling

The court 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 appeal without prepaying fees. The court also cautioned that certain dismissals of a prisoner’s federal civil action can count as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), which can limit a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees after three strikes, subject to the statutory exception for imminent danger of serious physical injury.