Flores v. I.C.E.

Background

Carlos Armando Castill Flores brought this civil action against I.C.E. while detained at the Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia, New York. He proceeded without a lawyer. Flores submitted a complaint with a prisoner authorization, but he did not submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying filing fees.

The court’s order

The court ordered Flores, within 30 days of the order, to do one of two things: pay the $402 required to file a civil action, consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee, or submit a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees. The application had to be labeled with docket number 22-CV-0641.

The court explained that if Flores’s application were granted, the Prison Litigation Reform Act would require collection of the $350 filing fee through installments deducted from his account. The $52 administrative fee would not apply to a person granted permission to proceed without prepaying fees. The prisoner authorization directs the detention facility to make those deductions and provide certified copies of the prisoner’s account statements for the previous six months.

Disposition

The court did not issue a summons at that time. It stated that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Flores complied with the order, and that the action would be dismissed if he failed to comply within the allowed time. The court 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 proceed without prepaying fees for an appeal. The Clerk was directed to mail Flores a copy of the order and record service on the docket.