Beamon v. Pollard et al

Filing 17

ORDER signed by Judge Rudolph T. Randa on 2/17/2016 GRANTING 13 Plaintiff's Motion for Order. Upon plaintiff's request, warden at Waupun Correctional Institution to pay $334.19 balance of filing fee from Beamon's release account. Payment to be made within 21 days. (cc: all counsel, via mail to Warden and Earnest Beamon at Waupun Correctional Institution) (cb)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
EARNEST D. BEAMON, JR.,
Plaintiff,
-vs-

Case No. 15-CV-560

WILLIAM POLLARD,
TONY MELI,
CAPTAIN O’DONOVAN, and
CO ROSENTHAL,
Defendants.

DECISION AND ORDER
On February 8, 2016, the Court screened the plaintiff’s complaint
and assessed the $334.19 balance of the filing fee. The plaintiff has now
asked the Court to issue an order stating that the $334.19 can come from
the plaintiff’s prison release account. The Court previously allowed the
plaintiff to pay his initial partial filing fee from his release account.
The PLRA requires courts to collect filing fees from “prisoner’s
accounts.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b). As stated in Doty v. Doyle, 182 F. Supp. 2d
750 (E.D. Wis. 2002):
the courts have found that when a prisoner’s general fund has
insufficient funds to pay filing fees, both the . . . Wisconsin
PLRA . . . and the . . . federal PLRA . . . authorize the courts to
order that the money in a prisoner’s release be made available
for that purpose. Spence v. Cooke, 222 Wis. 2d 530, 537 (Ct.
App. 1998); Spence v. McCaughtry, 46 F. Supp. 2d 861 (E.D.

Wis. 1999). (All the same, in deference to the Wisconsin public
policy behind release accounts, judges of this district do not
routinely look to prisoners’ release accounts when they assess
initial partial filing fees under the federal PLRA, Smith v.
Huibregtse, 151 F. Supp. 2d 1040, 1042 (E.D. Wis. 2001),
although they will do so upon request from the prisoner, as in
Spence v. McCaughtry.) Id. at 751.
Based on the prisoner trust account statement the plaintiff submitted
when he filed his complaint, the plaintiff has almost $900 in his release
account, far more than the remainder of the filing fee. Additionally, the
Wisconsin Department of Corrections Inmate Locator shows that the
plaintiff has more than five years until his mandatory release date. See
http://offender.doc.state.wi.us/lop/ (last visited, Feb. 17, 2016). The Court
respects the plaintiff’s choice to use his release funds to pay his filing fee
and will grant his motion.
NOW, THEREFORE, BASED ON THE FOREGOING, IT IS
HEREBY ORDERED THAT the plaintiff’s motion for order directing that
the balance of the filing fee be paid from plaintiff’s release account (ECF
No. 13) is GRANTED.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that, upon the plaintiff’s request, the
warden at the correctional institution where the plaintiff is incarcerated
shall withdraw a total of $334.19 from the plaintiff’s release account and
forward that sum to the Clerk of this Court as the remainder of the filing
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fee in this action. Such payment is to be made within 21 days of the date of
this order.
IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that a copy of this order be sent to
the warden at Waupun Correctional Institution.
Dated at Milwaukee, Wisconsin, this 17th day of February, 2016.
BY THE COURT:

__________________________
HON. RUDOLPH T. RANDA
U.S. District Judge

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