Michael J. Winfield v. California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation

I. BACKGROUND

24 On November 26, 2025, along with his Complaint, Plaintiff filed an application to proceed 25 IFP. (ECF No. 2). The application requires Plaintiff to answer questions under penalty of perjury. 26 Once question asks, “do you have a checking or savings account?” (Id., p .2) Plaintiff claimed 27 that he has such an account and has $1,000 in that account. (Id.). Plaintiff also indicated that he 28 1 had not received any money in the past 12 months from any source, and had no other assets. (Id.) 2 Moreover, Plaintiff filed his Inmate Statement Report on December 1, 2025. (ECF No. 6). 3 According to that statement, Plaintiff’s inmate account balance as of December 1, 2025 was 4 $3,383.38. (ECF No. 6, at p. 2). The report also lists a previous account balance of $25,893.22 on June 1, 2025 (Id.). Between June 1, 2025, and July 1, 2025, Plaintiff’s inmate account had 5 various withdrawals, including a withdrawal of $20,000 on July 1, 2025. 6

II. LEGAL STANDARDS

7 Under 28 U.S.C. § 1915(a)(1), a pro se plaintiff may proceed without prepayment of fees 8 by submitting “an affidavit that includes a statement of all assets such [person] possesses that the 9…