Persaud v. Department of Corrections

Background

Rampersaud Persaud filed a civil action while incarcerated in the Vernon C. Bain Center and proceeded without a lawyer. He filed the complaint without paying the required fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The complaint had originally been filed with claims by 49 other detainees. A magistrate judge had severed the claims and directed the Clerk of Court to open separate cases.

Fees and required forms

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 prepaying fees by submitting a signed application and prisoner authorization. If permission is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The authorization also directs the facility to make those deductions and provide certified copies of the prisoner's account statements for the prior six months.

Order

The court ordered Persaud, 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-9491 (CM). The Clerk was directed to mail him a copy of the order and record service on the docket. No summons would issue at that time. The court stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk's procedures if Persaud complied and would be dismissed if he did not comply within the allowed time.

Chief Judge Colleen McMahon also certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith, so fee-free status was denied for purposes of an appeal. The order additionally warned that certain dismissals of a prisoner's federal civil action can count as strikes under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), potentially limiting the prisoner's ability to proceed without prepaying fees in future actions.