Schulte v. Bureau of Prisons
- Paul Gardephe
- 1:20-cv-02795
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Schulte v. Bureau of Prisons, Judge McMahon ordered Joshua Adam Schulte to pay filing fees or submit forms, warning the case would be dismissed otherwise.
Joshua Adam Schulte, a self-represented prisoner who filed the action without the required fees or payment-free filing forms.
What happened
In Schulte v. Bureau of Prisons, Joshua Adam Schulte filed a civil action without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying them. The order states that Schulte was representing himself and was being held at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center.
The court gave Schulte 30 days from April 7, 2020, to either pay $400 in fees or submit the required application and authorization forms. The authorization would allow filing-fee payments to be deducted from his prison trust account in installments. The court directed the Clerk to mail him the order, and no summons was to issue at that time.
If Schulte did not comply within the deadline, the action would be dismissed. The court also denied payment-free status for an appeal, finding that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith. Judge McMahon signed the order.
The detailed version
- Schulte v. Bureau of Prisons · No. 1:20-cv-02795
- Paul Gardephe
- Apr. 7, 2020
Background
Joshua Adam Schulte filed this civil action against the Bureau of Prisons and other defendants. The opinion states that Schulte was proceeding without a lawyer and was being held at the federal Metropolitan Correctional Center. He submitted the complaint without paying the required fees and without a completed application to proceed without prepaying those fees or a prisoner authorization.
Payment and application requirements
The court explained that a prisoner bringing a civil action must either pay $400 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $50 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants that application, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner's trust account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and provide certified copies of the prison trust-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
Within 30 days of the order, Schulte was required to pay the $400 in fees or submit the attached application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-2795 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail him a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The order states that the case would be processed under the Clerk's procedures if Schulte complied and would be dismissed if he did not.
The court certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that any appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied payment-free status for purposes of an appeal. The order also cautioned that certain dismissals of a prisoner's federal action or appeal count as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), and that a prisoner with three strikes generally cannot proceed without prepaying fees unless facing imminent danger of serious physical injury. Colleen McMahon, Chief United States District Judge, signed the order.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.