Opinion
A23A1309
04-20-2023
The Court of Appeals hereby passes the following order:
Prison inmate Chad Hargreaves filed a civil action against the State of Georgia and various corrections officials. The defendants filed a motion to dismiss, which the trial court granted, and Hargreaves thereafter filed this appeal. We lack jurisdiction.
Because Hargreaves is incarcerated, his appeal is controlled by the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1996, OCGA § 42-12-1 et seq. Under OCGA § 42-12-8, an appeal in a civil action filed by a prisoner "shall be as provided in Code Section 5-635." And under OCGA § 5-6-35, the party wishing to appeal must file an application for discretionary appeal. Because a prisoner has no right of direct appeal in civil cases, we lack jurisdiction to consider this direct appeal from the trial court's order. See Jones v. Townsend, 267 Ga. 489, 490-491 (480 S.E.2d 24) (1997). Accordingly, this appeal is hereby DISMISSED.