Houston v. Lack

In Houston v. Lack, 487 U.S. 266, 270, 108 S. Ct. 2379, 101 L. Ed. 2d 245 (1988), the United States Supreme Court held that a pro se prisoner's notice of appeal from a district court's denial of habeas relief is "filed," for purposes of the filing deadline, at the time it is delivered to prison authorities for forwarding to the district court. Id., 487 U.S. at 276. The Court explained that "the situation of prisoners seeking to appeal without the aid of counsel is unique. Such prisoners, cannot take the steps other litigants can take to monitor the processing of their notices of appeal and to ensure that the court clerk receives and stamps their notices of appeal before the 30-day deadline." Id. at 270-71. Noting the various methods that non-prisoner litigants can take to ensure that a notice of appeal is timely filed, the Court stated that, "pro se prisoners cannot take any of these precautions; nor, by definition, do they have lawyers who can take these precautions for them." Id. at 271. The Court observed that a pro se prisoner is "unskilled in law, unaided by counsel, and unable to leave the prison." Id. Thus, he "cannot control or supervise" prison authorities who "may have every incentive to delay," and "no matter how far in advance the pro se prisoner delivers his notice to the prison authorities, he can never be sure that it will ultimately get stamped 'filed' on time." Id.