Johnson v. Rikers Island
- Laura Swain
- 1:22-cv-03047
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 2
In Johnson v. Rikers Island, Judge Swain ordered Jinja Johnson to pay $402 or submit forms to proceed without prepaying fees.
Jinja Johnson, who must either pay the required fees or submit the required forms within 30 days for the action to proceed; the case may be dismissed if Johnson does not comply.
What happened
In Johnson v. Rikers Island, Jinja Johnson filed a lawsuit without paying the required fees or submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying them. The opinion says Johnson was incarcerated on Rikers Island and represented himself.
The court gave Johnson 30 days to either pay $402 or submit an application and authorization allowing filing-fee payments to be deducted from the prisoner account in installments. The court also directed that no summons issue at that time.
Judge Swain ordered that the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures if Johnson complied, but would be dismissed if Johnson did not comply within the deadline. The court also denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees, finding that an appeal would not be taken in good faith.
The detailed version
- Johnson v. Rikers Island · No. 1:22-cv-03047
- Laura Swain
- Apr. 13, 2022
Background
Jinja Johnson filed the action without paying the filing fees and without submitting a completed application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization. The opinion identifies Johnson as incarcerated on Rikers Island and proceeding without a lawyer.
Fees and required forms
The court explained that a prisoner starting a civil action must either pay $402—consisting of a $350 filing fee and a $52 administrative fee—or submit a signed application to proceed without prepaying fees and a prisoner authorization. If the court grants that application, the $350 filing fee must be collected in installments from the prisoner’s account. The authorization also directs the incarceration facility to deduct those payments and provide certified account statements for the preceding six months.
Order
The court ordered Johnson, within 30 days of April 13, 2022, to either pay the $402 in fees or submit the required application and authorization, labeled with docket number 22-CV-3047 (LTS). No summons was to issue at that time. The court stated that, if Johnson complied, the case would be processed under the Clerk’s Office procedures; if Johnson failed to comply within the allowed time, the action would be dismissed.
Appeal and additional notice
Judge Laura Taylor Swain certified that an appeal from the order would not be taken in good faith and denied permission to appeal without prepaying fees. The court also cautioned that a later dismissal for frivolousness or failure to state a claim could count as a strike under the prisoner litigation statute, and that three such strikes generally restrict a prisoner’s ability to proceed without prepaying fees unless the prisoner faces imminent danger of serious physical injury.
Read the full 2-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.