Redmond v. Landers et al

Filing 4

Order on ifp request: Initial partial filing fee of $ 3.83 assessed.(Initial partial filing fee due by 3/16/2009.) (elc),(ps)

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT F O R THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

RODNEY JAMES REDMOND, P etitio n er , v. M S . LANDERS, JANET WALSH, M A R T H A BREEN, RYAN TOBIASZ an d MIKE VANDENBROOK, R e s po n d e n ts . ORDER 0 9 -c v -8 7 -s lc

Petitioner Rodney Redmond, a prisoner at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage, Wisconsin, has submitted a proposed complaint. He asks for leave to proceed in forma pauperis. Because petitioner is a prisoner, he is subject to the 1996 Prisoner Litigation Reform Act. This means that before this court may decide whether he can proceed with his complaint in forma pauperis, petitioner will have to make an initial partial payment of the filing fee. From the trust fund account statement petitioner has submitted, I calculate his initial partial payment to be $3.83. He must pay the remainder of the fee in monthly installments even if his request for leave to proceed is denied. If petitioner does not have the money to make the initial partial payment in his regular account, he may arrange with prison authorities to pay some or all of the assessment from his release account. This does not mean that petitioner is free to ask prison authorities to pay all of his filing fee from his release account. The only amount petitioner must pay at this time is the $3.83 initial partial payment. Before prison officials take any portion of that amount from petitioner's release account, they may first take from petitioner's regular

account whatever amount up to the full amount petitioner owes. Petitioner should show a copy of this order to prison officials to insure that they are aware they should send petitioner's initial partial payment to this court. One additional matter requires comment. In a letter accompanying his complaint, petitioner asks the court for "permission to have another inmate pay [his] partial filing fee just in case [he] can't." This matter is one that must be handled by the institution in which petitioner is confined. Unfortunately, it is not within this court's discretion to grant this type of request.

ORDER IT IS ORDERED that petitioner is assessed $3.83 as an initial partial payment of the $350 fee for filing this case. He is to submit a check or money order made payable to the clerk of court in the amount of $3.83 on or before March 16, 2009. If, by March 16, 2009, petitioner fails to make the initial partial payment or show cause for his failure to do so, he will be held to have withdrawn this action voluntarily. In that event, the clerk of court is directed

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to close this file without prejudice to petitioner's filing his case at a later date. Entered this 22n d day of February, 2009. BY THE COURT: /s/ STEPHEN L. CROCKER Magistrate Judge

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