Traore v. Rikers Island C95, and C76 Medical Staff
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-01432
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Traore v. Rikers Island, Judge Swain ordered payment or a prisoner authorization within 30 days before the case could proceed.
Abdoulaye Traore, who was required to pay the filing fees or submit a prisoner authorization within 30 days to avoid dismissal of the action.
What happened
In Traore v. Rikers Island, Abdoulaye Traore filed a civil action while incarcerated at Rikers Island and asked to proceed without paying the filing fees upfront. He did not submit the required prisoner authorization.
The court ordered Traore, within 30 days, either to pay $402 in fees or submit a completed prisoner authorization. That authorization would allow installment deductions of the $350 filing fee from his prisoner account. The court also said no summons would issue at that time.
Chief Judge Laura Taylor Swain warned that the action would be dismissed if Traore did not comply. The court also denied permission to proceed without paying fees for any appeal from this order and directed the Clerk to mail the order to Traore.
The detailed version
- Traore v. Rikers Island C95, and C76 Medical Staff · No. 1:22-cv-01432
- Laura Swain
- Mar. 15, 2022
What the order addressed
Abdoulaye Traore brought this civil action pro se, meaning without a lawyer, while incarcerated at Rikers Island. The order addressed the filing requirements for a prisoner who wants to proceed without paying court fees at the start of the case. It did not address the underlying claims against the defendants.
Required payment or authorization
The court explained that a prisoner must either pay $402 in fees—a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit an application to proceed without prepaying fees along with a signed prisoner authorization. If the court grants permission to proceed without prepayment, the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires the $350 filing fee to be collected in installments from the prisoner's account. The authorization also directs the facility to provide certified account statements for the previous six months.
Traore had not submitted the required prisoner authorization. The court ordered him, within 30 days of March 15, 2022, either to pay the $402 or complete and submit the authorization labeled with docket number 22-CV-1432 (LTS).
Court's action and warning
The court directed that no summons issue at that time. It stated that, if Traore complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk's Office procedures. If he failed to comply within the allowed period, the action would be dismissed.
The court 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 purposes of an appeal. Judge Laura Taylor Swain also directed the Clerk of Court to mail the order to Traore and record service on the docket.
The order cautioned that a later dismissal of a prisoner's action as frivolous or for failure to state a claim can count as a statutory “strike,” and that three such strikes generally affect a prisoner's ability to proceed without prepaying fees in later actions, subject to the statutory exception for imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.