UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF OHIO

WESTERN DIVISION

JASON L. STUBBS, Case No. 1:17-cv-813

Plaintiff,

vs Dlott, J.

Bowman, M.J. 

OHIO DEPARTMENT OF ORDER

REHABILITATION &

CORRECTIONS, et al., 

Defendants.

Plaintiff, a prisoner currently incarcerated at the Warren Correctional Institution, has filed 

a motion regarding filing fee deductions taken from his prisoner account. (Doc. 8). Plaintiff 

claims that $36.30 was improperly deducted from his account. Plaintiff does not seek any 

specific relief by way of his motion, other than seeking an explanation of the withdrawal of his 

funds. 

Plaintiff has filed and been granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis in two cases in 

this Court.1

 With respect to filing fees, this Court’s authority is constrained by the PLRA, which 

modified the statute governing federal in forma pauperis civil complaints brought by prisoners 

“in hopes of deterring prisoners (whom Congress determined to be a particularly litigious group) 

from filing frivolous lawsuits and potentially wasting the courts’ very limited resources” by 

making those unable to pay the full filing fee upfront ultimately “bear the cost of the full 

amount” of that fee by way of monthly installment payments from their prison accounts. See 

Ippolito v. Buss, 293 F. Supp.2d 881, 882–83 & nn.2–3 (N.D. Ind. 2003) (and authorities cited 

 1 In addition to this case, plaintiff was also granted leave to proceed in forma pauperis in Case No. 1:17-cv-721. 

Plaintiff has filed an identical motion regarding fee deductions in that case. 
2

therein); see also McGore v. Wrigglesworth, 114 F.3d 601, 604 (6th Cir. 1997).2 Under the 

PLRA, the moment a prisoner files his complaint with the Court, he becomes “responsible for 

the filing fee” and “waive[s] any objection to the withdrawal of funds from his trust fund account 

to pay court fees and costs.” Patterson v. Mackie, No. 13-15149, 2014 WL 1478437, at *1 (E.D. 

Mich. Apr. 15, 2014); see also McGore, 114 F.3d at 605 (“by filing the complaint . . ., the 

prisoner waives any objection to the fee assessment by the district court” and “to the withdrawal 

of funds from the trust account by prison officials to pay the prisoner’s court fees and costs”). 

28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2) provides in pertinent part:

After payment of the initial partial filing fee, the prisoner shall be required to make 

monthly payments of 20 percent of the preceding month’s income credited to the 

prisoner’s account. The agency having custody of the prisoner shall forward 

payments from the prisoner’s account to the clerk of the court each time the amount 

in the account exceeds $10 until the filing fees are paid.

The PLRA contains no language suggesting that the courts have authority or any discretion to 

allow prisoners to depart or deviate from the payment schedule explicitly set out in that statutory 

provision. Cf. Ippolito, 293 F. Supp.2d at 883 (“there is nothing [in § 1915(b)(2)] suggesting 

that the court may depart from the explicit language of the statute [or] that a prisoner may 

deviate from the payment schedule”). 

As noted in the January 26, 2018 Order granting petitioner in forma pauperis status in 

this case (Doc. 4), after paying an initial partial filing fee, plaintiff “is further required to make 

monthly payments of 20 percent of the preceding month’s income credited to his prison account 

until he pays the full amount of the filing fee.” 28 U.S.C. § 1915(b)(2). To date, plaintiff has 

made four payments applied toward the filing fee in Case No. 1:17-cv-721 totaling $82.54, 

 2 It is noted that McGore has been overruled in part on other grounds by the Supreme Court in Jones v. Bock, 549 

U.S. 199 (2007), and the Sixth Circuit in LaFountain v. Harry, 716 F.3d 944 (6th Cir. 2013). The citations to 

McGore that are contained in this Order are proper because they do not pertain to the issues addressed in either 

Jones or LaFountain.
3

including the most recent payment of $36.30 received by the Court on May 10, 2018. The 

records of the Court do not indicate any payments applied toward the filing fee in Case No. 1:17-

cv-813. 

The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to provide plaintiff with a copy of receipts of 

payments received by the Court. The Clerk of Court is further DIRECTED to send a copy of 

this Order to the institutional cashier. 

Plaintiff’s motion (Doc. 8) is otherwise DENIED. 

IT IS SO ORDERED. 

 s/ Stephanie K. Bowman 

Stephanie K. Bowman

United States Magistrate Judge