Beamon v. Pollard et al

Filing 9

ORDER signed by Judge Rudolph T Randa on 6/9/2015 GRANTING 7 Plaintiff's Motion for Order to Use Release Account Funds for Initial Partial Filing Fee. (cc: all counsel, via mail to Earnest Beamon and Warden 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 May 8, 2015, the plaintiff, Earnest D. Beamon, filed a pro se
complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. He also filed a motion for leave to
proceed in forma pauperis.

The Court directed the plaintiff to pay an

initial partial filing fee of $15.81 on or before June 9, 2015. The plaintiff
has now filed a motion asking for order to use release account funds to pay
his initial partial filing fee.
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.
The plaintiff has sufficient funds in his release account to pay the initial
partial filing fee for this case, and the Court respects the plaintiff’s choice
to use his release funds to pay his initial partial filing fee. The Court also
will allow the plaintiff additional time to request the disbursement of funds
from his release account.
NOW, THEREFORE, BASED ON THE FOREGOING, IT IS
HEREBY ORDERED THAT the plaintiff’s motion for order to use release
account funds for initial partial filing fee (ECF No. 7) 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 $15.81 from the plaintiff’s release account and
forward that sum to the Clerk of this Court as the initial partial filing fee
in this action. Such payment is to be made within 21 days of the date of

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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 9th day of June, 2015.

BY THE COURT:

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

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