Kurgan

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 10 BOBBY LEE COLLINS, No. 2:23-cv-1600 CSK P Plaintiff, v. ORDER KURGAN, et al., Defendants. 16 Plaintiff is a state prisoner proceeding pro se in an action brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. Plaintiff requests a “state-appointed lawyer,” and states he has a mental illness, has a psychiatrist, and is housed on the EOP yard. (ECF No. 45 at 1.) However, unlike in criminal cases where indigent defendants are provided a lawyer, pro se prisoners in civil cases proceeding in forma pauperis are not entitled to appointed lawyers. Further, district courts lack authority to require counsel to represent indigent prisoners in section 1983 cases. Mallard v. United States Dist. Court, 490 U.S. 296, 298 (1989). In exceptional circumstances, the court may request an attorney to voluntarily represent such a plaintiff. See 28 U.S.C. § 1915(e)(1); Terrell v. Brewer, 935 F.2d 1015, 1017 (9th Cir. 1991); Wood v. Housewright, 900 F.2d 1332,…