Jones v. West et al

Filing 12

ORDER signed by Judge Pamela Pepper on 6/22/2017 GRANTING 10 Plaintiff's Motion to pay filing fee from release account. By 7/31/2017 Warden at Green Bay Correctional Institution to withdraw $328.02 balance of filing fee from plaintiff's release account and forward to Clerk of Court. (cc: all counsel, via mail to Jumar Jones and Warden at Green Bay Correctional Institution) (cb)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EASTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
______________________________________________________________________________
JUMAR K. JONES,
Plaintiff,
v.

Case No. 16-cv-1687-pp

MICHELLE HAESE, et al.,
Defendants.
______________________________________________________________________________
DECISION AND ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFF’S
MOTION TO USE FUNDS FROM RELEASE ACCOUNT TO PAY
THE REMAINDER OF THE FILING FEE (DKT. NO. 10)
______________________________________________________________________________
On January 30, 2017, after the plaintiff paid an initial partial filing fee of
$21.98, the court granted the plaintiff’s motion to proceed without prepayment
of the full filing fee. Dkt. No. 9. The court also ordered the plaintiff to pay the
remainder of the filing fee over time, as set forth in the Prison Litigation Reform
Act (PLRA). On March 21, 2017, the plaintiff filed a motion asking the court to
allow him to pay the remainder of the filing fee with funds in his inmate release
account. Dkt. No. 10.
The PLRA requires the court to collect filing fees from a “prisoner’s
account.” 28 U.S.C. §1915(b). The term “prisoner’s account” encompasses both
a prisoner’s release account and general account. Spence v. McCaughtry, 46 F.
Supp. 2d 861, 862 (E.D. Wis. 1999). This court has held before, however, that
“given the purpose of the release account to provide funds to the prisoner upon
his or her release from incarceration, the Court does not deem it prudent to
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routinely focus on the release account as the initial source of funds to satisfy
the filing fee payment requirements of the PLRA.” Smith v. Huibregtse, 151 F.
Supp. 2d 1040, 1042 (E.D. Wis. 2001). Nevertheless, upon request, a court
may allow a plaintiff to pay a filing fee, or a portion thereof, out of his release
account. Doty v. Doyle, 182 F. Supp. 2d 750, 752 (E.D. Wis. 2002).
The plaintiff has more than twelve hundred dollars in his release
account, which is more than enough to pay the remaining $328.02 of the filing
fee. Allowing him to use his release account to cover the remainder of the fee
will significantly reduce the funds available in the account; the plaintiff’s
mandatory release/extended supervision date, however, isn’t until February
2066, which means he will have time to replenish his account. The court
concludes that, in these circumstances, it is acceptable to allow the plaintiff to
access the money in his release account to pay the remainder of his filing fee.
The court ORDERS that the plaintiff’s motion to pay the remainder of the
filing fee with funds in his release account is GRANTED. Dkt. No. 10.
The court further ORDERS that the warden at Green Bay Correctional
Institution shall withdraw $328.02 from the plaintiff’s release account and
forward that sum to the clerk of court as payment for the remainder of the
filing fee in this action. The warden shall make such payment by July 31,

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2017.
The court will mail a copy of this order to the warden at Green Bay
Correctional Institution.
Dated in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this 22nd day of June, 2017.
BY THE COURT:
________________________________________
HON. PAMELA PEPPER
United States District Judge

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