IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN

SHAUN J. MATZ,

Plaintiff, ORDER v. Case No. 18-cv-748-wmc GABRIEL GALLOWAY, App. No. 24-1716

Defendant.

Plaintiff Shaun J. Matz has filed a notice of appeal from an order entered on April 2, 2024. Plaintiff has also filed a motion to use release account funds to pay the entire $650 appellate filing fee1. (Dkt. 43.) For the reasons stated below, this motion will be denied. When a prisoner files a motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis, the district court must determine whether the prisoner qualifies for indigent status and, if so, what portion of the filing fee the prisoner must prepay under

(b)(1). If the prisoner does not have enough money in his regular inmate account, then prison officials will draw funds first from his regular account, and any portion of the initial partial payment remaining from his release account. Carter v. Bennett,

(W.D. Wis. 2005). This court does not have authority to order prison officials to allow a prisoner to use release account funds for any other purpose, in any other amount. In this case, plaintiff has not filed a motion to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal. Since I have no authority to order prison officials to allow plaintiff to use release account funds in the absence of such a motion, his motion to use release account funds is denied.

1 Effective December 1, 2023, the total fee for filing an appeal is $605 ($600 docketing fee plus $5 statutory fee). ORDER IT IS ORDERED that that plaintiff Shaun J. Matz’s motion for an order directing prison officials to pay the entire $650 appeal filing fee with funds from his release account is

DENIED. Plaintiff may have until May 29, 2024, to pay the filing fee or file a properly supported motion for leave to proceed in forma pauperis on appeal.

Entered this 29th day of April, 2024.

BY THE COURT:

/s/ ANDREW R. WISEMAN United States Magistrate Judge