Opinion
22-cv-313-DWD
04-05-2022
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER
DAVID W. DUGAN, UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE
Plaintiff Cleother Tidwell, an inmate of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), brings this civil action for events that occurred at Menard Correctional Center (Menard). (Doc. 1). Plaintiff originally filed his case in the Northern District of Illinois, but it was transferred to the Southern District of Illinois because it concerns events that occurred at Menard, which makes this Court the proper venue for the lawsuit. 28 U.S.C. § 1406(a). Plaintiff is a restricted filer before this Court. See Tidwell v. Menard C.C., No. 16-cv-384-SMY (S.D. Ill. Aug. 10, 2017, Doc. 43). The Court's Order provides in relevant part:
Cleother Tidwell is SANCTIONED with a $500 fine, to be paid before any other civil litigation will be filed. This fine is in addition to any other filing fees owed to this District. The Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to return all civil pleadings unfiled until the sanction is paid, and all habeas corpus filings will be summarily dismissed thirty days after filing, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. Documents submitted in connection with an appeal are excluded from the sanction.(Id. at p. 7). Plaintiff appealed the filing ban but he was denied leave to appeal in forma pauperis and the appeal was dismissed because he never paid the filing fee. See Tidwell v. Clendenin, Appellate Case No. 17-3020 (“Appellate Case”). Plaintiff has not yet satisfied the conditions of the filing ban, so he is still restricted before this Court. Furthermore, the filing ban was re-imposed, and expanded with an additional $500 fee, in September of 2018. See Tidwell v. Cunningham, 2018 WL 10229904 (S.D. Ill. 2018).
Based on Tidwell's status as a restricted filer, the Clerk of Court is DIRECTED to ADMINSTRATIVELY CLOSE this case.
IT IS SO ORDERED.