44th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - second session, 2000

RELATING TO CORRECTIONS; PROVIDING FOR RESTRICTIONS ON CIVIL ACTIONS INITIATED BY INMATES.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. STATE INMATES--RESTRICTIONS ON CIVIL ACTIONS INITIATED BY INMATES.--

A. A state inmate who seeks to file a civil action, including an appeal of a judgment in a civil action, without prepayment of a filing fee, shall submit an affidavit to the court requesting to proceed as an indigent. The affidavit shall be accompanied by a certified copy of the inmate's trust fund account statement for the six-month period immediately preceding the filing of the civil action.

B. If the court allows the inmate to proceed as an indigent, the inmate shall still be required to pay the full amount of the filing fee. The court shall assess and collect an initial, partial filing fee that is twenty percent of the average monthly deposits to the inmate's trust fund account or the average monthly balance in the inmate's trust fund account for the six-month period immediately preceding the inmate's filing of a civil action, whichever amount is greater. Following payment of the initial, partial filing fee, the inmate shall be required to make monthly payments that equal twenty percent of the average monthly deposits to the inmate's trust fund account for the six-month period immediately preceding the inmate's filing of the civil action. The correctional facility where the inmate is incarcerated shall forward the monthly payments from the inmate's trust fund account to the clerk of the court until the filing fee is paid in full.

C. Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection B of this section, an inmate shall not be prohibited from filing a civil action because the inmate does not have the means to pay an initial, partial filing fee. In no event shall the amount of the filing fee collected from an inmate exceed the amount of a filing fee for a civil action that is authorized by statute or court rule.

D. Notwithstanding the payment or partial payment of a filing fee by an inmate, the court on its own motion or on the motion of a party shall dismiss a complaint initiated by an inmate in a civil action if the court determines that the inmate's affidavit alleging indigency is false.

E. If an inmate has, on three or more previous occasions, initiated a civil action while incarcerated in this state, and those complaints were dismissed on the grounds that the complaints were frivolous, malicious or failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted, the inmate shall not be allowed to file additional civil actions. Notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, an inmate may be allowed to file a civil action if:

(1) the inmate is in imminent danger of serious physical injury; or

(2) an attorney licensed in this state certifies that the civil action states a cognizable claim and that there is a sound basis in fact and law for filing the civil action.

Section 2. EFFECTIVE DATE.--The effective date of the provisions of this act is July 1, 2000.