Lamar Johnson v. Ralph M. Kemp, Warden

Lamar Johnson, an inmate at Rivers Correctional Institution in Hardwick, Georgia, appeals pro se from the order of the district court requiring that he pay a partial filing fee of $20.00 (the full fee being $60.00) to proceed with his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. He argues that the district court abused its discretion in setting a fee as high as $20.00. Considering the factors upon which the district court relied in making its fee determination, we agree that the court abused its discretion.

Reviewing Johnson’s petition to proceed in forma pauperis, the district court found that Johnson’s prison…