Opinion ID: 734158
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Inmate Without Any Funds

Text: 6 If the prisoner is without any financial resources as evidenced by the affidavit of indigency and trust account statement, under § 1915(b)(4) the district court must allow the case to proceed to the screening process. Although the statute permits a prisoner to avoid even partial payment of the filing fee at the commencement of the action, the district court is still required to impose an initial partial filing fee under § 1915(b)(1) and, when funds become available, the prisoner must pay the initial partial filing fee. The statute does not relieve the prisoner from paying the initial partial filing fee. The payment is simply delayed until funds become available. 7 Even if the account is under ten dollars ($10), prison officials must still forward payments to the district court to pay the initial filing fee. The ten dollar ($10) rule of § 1915(b)(2) is applicable to fees and costs due only after the initial filing fee is paid. Once the initial filing fee is paid in full, the ten dollar ($10) and twenty percent (20%) requirements of § 1915(b)(2) become applicable. This process will prevent the problem of inmates keeping only minimum balances in their prison accounts to avoid paying any portion of the filing fee. The payments must be made even if the final judgment and appeal occurred several years before the deposit of funds.