Johnson v. Bragg

Background

Jinja J. “Kyng Pariah” Johnson filed this civil action against Alvin Bragg and other defendants. The opinion states that Johnson is incarcerated at Rose M. Singer Center and is proceeding without a lawyer. Johnson submitted the complaint without paying the required filing fees and without completing an application to proceed without prepaying fees or a prisoner authorization.

The required filing materials

The court explained that filing a civil action requires either payment of $402—$350 for the filing fee and $52 for the administrative fee—or submission of the required forms to request permission to proceed without prepaying fees. Under the applicable prisoner-filing statute, a prisoner who receives that permission must still pay the $350 filing fee in installments deducted from the prisoner’s account. The prisoner authorization directs the correctional facility to make those deductions and to send the court certified account statements covering the previous six months.

Ruling

The court ordered Johnson, within 30 days of the order, either to pay the $402 in fees or to submit the attached application and prisoner authorization, labeled with docket number 22-CV-8651 (LTS). The court stated that no answer from the defendants was required at that time and 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.

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 opinion also cautioned that certain dismissals of prisoner actions can count as strikes under the prisoner-filing statute, but this order did not state that Johnson’s action had received such a dismissal.