Hopkins v. Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility et al
Filing
25
ORDER signed by Judge J.P. Stadtmueller on 8/31/2017 DENYING 24 Plaintiff's Motion for Return of Filing Fee Payments. (cc: all counsel, via mail to Rodney James Hopkins at Jackson Correctional Institution) (jm)
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
RODNEY JAMES HOPKINS,
v.
Plaintiff,
MILWAUKEE SECURE DETENTION
FACILITY, JOHN DOE Warden, JANE
DOE Nurses, DOC ICE PROCESS, and
JOHN/JANE DOE Medical Supervisor,
Case No. 13-CV-1019-JPS-JPS
ORDER
Defendants.
On August 23, 2017, Plaintiff filed a motion related to payment of the
filing fee in this matter. (Docket #24). Plaintiff states that funds have been
taken from his prison trust account in violation of 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2).
That statute provides:
After payment of the initial partial filing fee, the
prisoner shall be required to make monthly payments of 20
percent of the preceding month’s income credited to the
prisoner’s account. The agency having custody of the prisoner
shall forward payments from the prisoner’s account to the
clerk of the court each time the amount in the account exceeds
$10 until the filing fees are paid.
28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). Plaintiff believes that the Wisconsin Department of
Corrections (“DOC”) should not be permitted to take any funds from his
account until it reaches at least a $10.00 balance. He claims that the DOC has
continually debited his account even though it has never reached $10.00.
Plaintiff asks that the improperly taken funds be returned to him.
Plaintiff’s motion must be denied for two reasons. First, he provides
no evidence whatsoever to support his claim. Second, Plaintiff misreads the
statute. The first sentence requires him to pay twenty percent of the
preceding month’s income towards the filing fee. The second instructs the
DOC to forward any of those collected amounts to the Clerk of the Court
once they total more than $10.00. In other words, the $10.00 figure has no
relation to the DOC’s duty to make monthly draws on Plaintiff’s account
until the fee is fully paid. The DOC is entitled to debit Plaintiff’s trust
account for twenty percent of the preceding month’s income, regardless of
the account’s balance. Once that process results in a sum of more than
$10.00 (which may take a substantial amount of time), the DOC must
forward the amount to the Clerk of the Court.
Accordingly,
IT IS ORDERED that Plaintiff’s motion for return of filing fee
payments (Docket #24) be and the same is hereby DENIED.
Dated at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this 31st day of August, 2017.
BY THE COURT:
____________________________________
J. P. Stadtmueller
U.S. District Judge
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