United States District Court, S.D. Ohio, Eastern Division
George
C. Smith Judge.
ORDER and REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION
CHELSEY M. VASCURA UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE.
Plaintiff,
Rafiq Jones, a state inmate who is proceeding without the
assistance of counsel, brings this civil rights action under
42 U.S.C. § 1983 for declaratory, injunctive, and
monetary relief against a the State of Ohio, the Ohio
Department of Rehabilitation and Correction
(“ODRC”), the ODRC Director, and Officer Taylor
Graves, asserting Eighth Amendment claims arising from an
incident that occurred while he was incarcerated at Lorain
Correctional Institution (“LCI”). This matter is
before the Court for the initial screen of Plaintiff's
Complaint under 28 U.S.C. §§ 1915(e)(2) and 1915A
to identify cognizable claims and to recommend dismissal of
Plaintiff's Complaint, or any portion of it, which is
frivolous, malicious, fails to state a claim upon which
relief may be granted, or seeks monetary relief from a
defendant who is immune from such relief. 28 U.S.C. §
1915(e)(2). Having performed the initial screen, for the
reasons that follow, it is RECOMMENDED that
the Court DISMISS Plaintiff's claims
against the State of Ohio, ODRC, and the ODRC Director and
TRANSFER this action to the United States
District Court for the Northern District of Ohio Eastern
Division at Cleveland.
This
matter is also before the Court for consideration of
Plaintiff's motion for leave to proceed in forma
pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1) and (2),
which is GRANTED. (ECF No. 1.) Plaintiff is
required to pay the full amount of the Court's $350
filing fee. 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1). Plaintiff's
certified trust fund statements reveal that he currently
possesses $11.27 in his prison account, which is insufficient
to pay the filing fee.
Pursuant
to 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(1), the custodian of
Plaintiff's inmate trust accounts (Inmate Id.
Number A700587) at Belmont Correctional Institution is
DIRECTED to submit to the Clerk of the
United States District Court for the Southern District of
Ohio as an initial partial payment, 20% of the greater of
either the average monthly deposits to the inmate trust
account or the average monthly balance in the inmate trust
account, for the six-months immediately preceding the filing
of the Complaint.
After
full payment of the initial, partial filing fee, the
custodian shall submit 20% of the inmate's preceding
monthly income credited to the account, but only when the
amount in the account exceeds $10.00 until the full fee of
$350.00 has been paid to the Clerk of this Court. 28 U.S.C.
§ 1915(b)(2). See McGore v. Wrigglesworth, 114
F.3d 601 (6th Cir. 1997).
Checks
should be made payable to: Clerk, United States District
Court. The checks should be sent to:
Prisoner Accounts Receivable 260 U.S. Courthouse 85 Marconi
Boulevard Columbus, Ohio 43215
The
prisoner's name and this case number must be included on
each check.
It is
ORDERED that Plaintiff be allowed to
prosecute his action without prepayment of fees or costs and
that judicial officers who render services in this action
shall do so as if the costs had been prepaid. The Clerk of
Court is DIRECTED to mail a copy of this
Order to Plaintiff and the prison cashier's office. The
Clerk is further DIRECTED to forward a copy
of this Order to the Court's financial office in
Columbus.
I.
Congress
enacted 28 U.S.C. § 1915, the federal in forma
pauperis statute, seeking to “lower judicial
access barriers to the indigent.” Denton v.
Hernandez, 504 U.S. 25, 31 (1992).
In
doing so, however, “Congress recognized that ‘a
litigant whose filing fees and court costs are assumed by the
public, unlike a paying litigant, lacks an economic incentive
to refrain from filing frivolous, malicious, or repetitive
lawsuits.'” Id. at 31 (quoting Neitzke
v. Williams, 490 U.S. 319, 324 (1989)). To address this
concern, Congress included subsection (e) as part of the
statute, which provides in pertinent part:
(2) Notwithstanding any filing fee, or any portion thereof,
that may have been paid, the court shall dismiss the case at
any ...