Terrance Prude v. Paula Stoudt and A. Titlbach

Summary

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin screens Terrance Prude’s 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint concerning access to courts and the use of release-account funds to pay an appellate filing fee. The court denies his request to use release-account funds for the full fee, grants leave to proceed without prepaying the filing fee, and dismisses the complaint for failure to state a claim. The court also assesses a filing-fee balance and directs that a strike be recorded under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(g).

Holdings

1. A prisoner has no constitutional right to use funds in a release account however he desires, including to pay the full appellate filing fee; the refusal to authorize such use therefore did not violate Prude's right of access to the courts.
2. The complaint failed to state a claim under § 1983 because it did not allege deprivation of a constitutional right.
3. The court must dismiss a prisoner's complaint that fails to state a claim upon which relief may be granted when screened under the PLRA.

Questions Presented

1. Whether prison officials violated Prude's constitutional right of access to the courts by refusing to permit him to use release-account funds to pay the full appellate filing fee.
2. Whether Prude's related claims concerning the handling of his inmate grievance and the alleged vagueness of the release-account policy stated a constitutional claim.
3. Whether Prude could proceed without prepaying the filing fee and use his release account to pay the full filing fee under the Prison Litigation Reform Act.

Disposition

dismissed