Graves v. Department of Corrections

Background

Gill Graves, who was incarcerated and proceeding without a lawyer, filed this civil action without paying the required filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion states that Graves originally filed the complaint with 49 other detainees, but a magistrate judge had severed the claims and directed the clerk to open separate cases.

Court’s order

The court explained that a prisoner 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 the application is granted, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the correctional facility to deduct those payments and provide certified account statements for the previous six months.

Within 30 days of the order, Graves was required to pay the $400 or submit the specified forms labeled with docket number 20-CV-9416 (CM). The clerk was directed to mail him the order and record service on the docket. No summons would issue at that time. The order stated that, if Graves complied, the case would be processed under the clerk’s procedures; if he failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.

Appeal and warning

Chief United States District Judge Colleen McMahon certified under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(3) that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and therefore denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The order also warned that a dismissal as frivolous or for failure to state a claim can count as a “strike” under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g), and that three such strikes generally prevent a prisoner from proceeding without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.