Romance Gunn v. Thielen
Romance Gunn v. Thielen
Trial Court Opinion
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE WESTERN DISTRICT OF WISCONSIN
ROMANCE GUNN,
Plaintiff, ORDER v. Case No. 24-cv-919-jdp THIELEN,
Defendant.
On January 7, 2025, I entered an order assessing plaintiff an initial partial payment of the $350 filing fee for this case, which plaintiff has paid. Plaintiff has been making monthly installment payments since then. Now plaintiff has filed a motion for an order directing prison officials to pay the remainder of the filing fee from plaintiff’s release account. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, an inmate who files a lawsuit in federal court under the in forma pauperis statute,
28 U.S.C. § 1915, must pay the $350 filing fee, first by making an initial partial payment under § 1915(b)(1), and then by paying the remainder of the filing fee in monthly installments under § 1915(b)(2). If a prisoner does not have sufficient funds in a regular inmate account to make the initial partial payment, then the prisoner may withdraw funds from a release account. However, prison officials will draw funds first from the prisoner’s regular account and any portion of the initial partial payment remaining from the prisoner’s release account. Carter v. Bennett,
399 F. Supp. 2d 936, 937(W.D. Wis. 2005). "[N]othing in the fee collection provision of § 1915 can be read as requiring the state to allow a prisoner to pay off the balance of a federal court filing fee from money carried over several months in [a] release account." Id. Accordingly, plaintiff’s motion to pay the remainder of the filing fee from a release account is denied. ORDER IT IS ORDERED that plaintiff Romance Gunn’s motion for an order directing prison officials to pay the remainder of the filing fee for this case from plaintiff’s release account is
DENIED.
Entered this 10th day of December, 2025.
BY THE COURT:
/s/ ANDREW R. WISEMAN United States Magistrate Judge
Reference
- Status
- Unknown