UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DISTRICT OF SOUTH DAKOTA SOUTHERN DIVISION

KARLA WOOTEN, 4:25-CV-04043-CCT

Plaintiff, ORDER REQUIRING FULL vs. APPELLATE FILING FEE OR MOTION TO PROCEED IN FORMA KELLY1 WASKO, SDOC Secretary, in PAUPERIS ON APPEAL individual capacity; NICK LAMB, Secretary of Corrections, in official capacity; and AARON MILLER, Warden, in individual capacity and official capacity,

Defendants.

Plaintiff, Karla Wooten, an inmate at the South Dakota Women’s Prison, filed a pro se civil rights lawsuit under

. Docket 1. Wooten moved for leave to proceed in forma pauperis and submitted a prisoner trust account report. Dockets 6, 7. But after Wooten paid the full $405 civil filing fee, the Court denied her motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis as moot. Docket 17. Wooten has now filed a “Reply Brief and Notice of Appeal” from the Court’s December 11, 2025 Order denying Wooten’s motion for assistance with service, motion to compel, motion to appoint counsel, and motion for preliminary injunction or protective order. See Docket 56; Docket 61 (capitalization in original omitted). When she filed her notice of appeal, Wooten

1 In her complaint, Wooten identified the former Secretary of Corrections as “Kelly Wasko[.]” Docket 1 at 2. The Court notes that the correct spelling of this defendant’s first name is Kellie. did not pay the $605 appellate filing fee or file a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), a prisoner who “brings a

civil action or files an appeal in forma pauperis . . . shall be required to pay the full amount of a filing fee.”

(b)(1). “[T]he assessment of appellate filing fees occurs upon the filing of a notice of appeal . . . and fixes responsibility for payment sooner rather than later of the fees in full.” Henderson v. Norris,

(8th Cir. 1997) (per curiam). “Irrespective of the court’s approach to the merits of the appeal, the prisoner’s liability for the full payment of the appellate filing fees under the PLRA continues until full payment has been made which may be long after . . .

dispos[al] of the appeal.”

Accordingly, it is ORDERED that Wooten must pay the full $605 appellate filing fee. It is further ORDERED that if Wooten seeks leave to pay the appellate filing fee in installments, she must move for leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal and submit a certified prisoner trust account for the last six months on or before January 28, 2026. It is finally ORDERED that the Clerk of Court shall send Wooten a blank Motion to Proceed Without Prepayment of Fees and Declaration and a blank Prisoner Trust Account Report form. Dated December 29, 2025.

BY THE COURT:

/s/ Camela C. Theeler CAMELA C. THEELER UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE