Boone v. Department of Corrections

Background

Dewayne Boone, who was incarcerated at the Vernon C. Bain Center and was proceeding without a lawyer, filed this civil action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The complaint had been filed with 49 other detainees. In a prior related proceeding, a magistrate judge severed the claims and directed the Clerk of Court to open separate cases for each plaintiff.

Fee and paperwork 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 an application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If permission to proceed without prepaying fees is granted, the $350 filing fee is collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The authorization also directs the facility to make those deductions and provide certified account statements for the preceding six months.

Order

The court ordered Boone to comply within 30 days of the order by either paying the $400 in fees or submitting the required application and authorization, labeled with docket number 20-CV-9409 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail him the order and note service on the docket. No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk's procedures if Boone complied and that the action would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.

Judge McMahon 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 appeal without prepaying fees. The order cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, which may limit a prisoner's ability to proceed without prepaying fees after three strikes. This order did not address the merits of Boone's claims.