(1) Application of Section. This section applies only to self-represented individuals who (A) are confined in a correctional or other detention facility pursuant to a court order in a criminal or juvenile delinquency case, (B) have no direct access to the U.S. Postal Service or the ability to file an electronic submission under the Rules in Title 20, and (C) seek relief from a criminal conviction or their confinement by filing (i) a motion for new trial, an appeal, an application for review of sentence by a panel, a motion for modification of sentence, a petition for certiorari in the Supreme Court, an application for leave to appeal, a motion or petition for a writ of habeas corpus or coram nobis, a motion or petition for statutory post-conviction relief, or a petition for judicial review of the denial of an inmate grievance complaint, or (ii) a paper in connection with any of those matters.

(2) Generally. A pleading or paper filed under this section shall be deemed to have been filed on the date that the pleading or paper, in mailable form and with proper postage affixed, was deposited by the individual into a receptacle designated by the facility for outgoing mail or personally delivered to an employee of the facility authorized by the facility to collect such mail. The clerk shall record the date a filing was received by the clerk, docket the filing, and make a note for the court of any discernable filing date as defined in subsection (d)(3).

(3) Proof of Date of Filing. The date of filing may be proved by (A) a date stamp affixed by the facility to the pleading, paper, or envelope containing the pleading or paper, or (B) a Certificate of Filing attached to or included with the pleading or paper, substantially in the form provided in subsection (d)(4) of this Rule that, in the event of a dispute, the court finds to be credible.

(4) Certificate of Filing. A Certificate of Filing shall be substantially in the following form:

I, __________ (name), certify that (1) I am involuntarily confined in __________ (name of facility); (2) I have no direct access to the U.S. Postal Service or to a permitted means of electronically filing the attached pleading or paper; (3) on __________ (date) at approximately __________ (time) I personally [ ] deposited the attached pleading or paper for mailing in a receptacle designated by the facility for outgoing mail or [ ] delivered it to an employee of the facility authorized by the facility to collect outgoing mail; and (4) the item was in mailable form and had the correct postage on it.

I solemnly affirm this ___ day of __________, 20 ___ under the penalty of perjury and upon personal knowledge that the foregoing statements are true.

Committee note: This section recognizes that individuals who are confined in a correctional or detention facility usually have no direct access to the U.S. Postal Service and may be dependent on the facility to deliver outgoing mail to the Postal Service on behalf of the confined individual. The best the individual in that situation can do is to deposit the item in a mail collection receptacle provided by the facility or, if that be the practice of the facility, deliver it to an employee of the facility authorized by the facility to collect outgoing mail. The section also recognizes that the facility may not actually collect the mail on the day it is deposited and may not affix a date-stamp showing when the mail was collected. Proving the date that the item was actually deposited in the facility's mailbox may therefore be difficult, other than by an affidavit from the filer, which may not always be credible. In the event of any question or dispute, the court can consider, in addition to the affidavit and for such relevance it may have, the U.S.P.S post mark on the envelope, any internal date stamp applied by the facility, any written policy of the facility regarding outgoing mail from confined individuals that had been communicated to those individuals, and other relevant and reliable evidence.

Cross reference: See Rule 1-301 (d), requiring that court papers be legible and of permanent quality.

Source: This Rule is derived in part from the 1980 version of Fed. R. Civ. P. 5 (e) and Rule 102 1 d of the Rules of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland and is in part new.