One of the most frustrating requirements of prisoner litigation is that you may have to complete a grievance process that cannot give you what you actually want.
Do it anyway.
Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), prisoners generally must exhaust available administrative remedies before filing a federal lawsuit about prison conditions. That means using the prison’s grievance system and pursuing the issue through the required levels of appeal before going to court.
This rule applies even when prison officials have no authority to provide the particular relief you’re seeking.
Suppose a correctional officer seriously injures you through excessive force. You want compensation for your injuries, pain, and suffering. The prison’s grievance policy, however, doesn’t allow the grievance officer, warden, or director to award you money damages.
What’s the point of asking them?
Legally, that doesn’t matter.
In Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731 (2001), the U.S. Supreme Court held that a prisoner must exhaust the administrative process even when the specific relief he wants, in that case money damages, isn’t available through that process.
In other words, the PLRA requires you to exhaust the process, not prove that the process can give you everything you might later request from a court.
So file the grievance.
Follow the facility’s grievance policy carefully. Meet the deadlines. Appeal adverse decisions through every level the policy requires. Always include the relevant dates, places, and names of the people involved. Be specific enough that officials can identify what happened, where and when it happened, and who was involved.
Keep copies whenever possible, including responses, receipts, appeal documents, and anything showing when documents were submitted.
Don’t assume that filing would be “pointless” and skip it.
You may be absolutely right that prison officials aren’t going to give you what you want. But if you later file a federal lawsuit, the prison’s attorneys may have an argument they very much want:
You didn’t exhaust.
And a grievance process that couldn’t give you money can still become the reason you never get the opportunity to ask a court for it.
Authority: Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731 (2001).