Source: s3://data.kl3m.ai/documents/govinfo/USCOURTS/USCOURTS-ared-4_16-cv-00315/USCOURTS-ared-4_16-cv-00315-1/pdf.json

Nature of Suit Code: 555
Nature of Suit: Prisoner - Prison Condition
Cause of Action: 42:1983 Prisoner Civil Rights

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

EASTERN DISTRICT OF ARKANSAS

WESTERN DIVISION

JANICE SHANTIA BLANCHARD,

ADC #713670 PLAINTIFF

V. CASE NO. 4:16-CV-315-SWW-BD

BROWN DEFENDANT

ORDER

The Court has received the Recommended Disposition (“Recommendation”) filed

by Magistrate Judge Beth Deere. After careful review of the Recommendation, Ms.

Blanchard’s timely objections, as well as a de novo review of pertinent portions of the 

record, the Court concludes that the Recommendation should be, and hereby is, approved

and adopted as this Court’s findings in all respects. 

Defendant Brown’s motion to dismiss (docket entry #8) is GRANTED. Ms.

Blanchard’s claims are DISMISSED, WITHOUT PREJUDICE, based on her failure to

fully exhaust her administrative remedies prior to filing suit.1

1

As explained in the Recommendation, the Arkansas Department of Correction’s

grievance procedure entails three steps. At step one, the inmate must file a timely informal

resolution; at step two, the inmate must file a formal grievance; and at step three, the inmate

must appeal to both the unit warden and the ADC Assistant or Deputy Director. On her

complaint form, Plaintiff provided a “Yes” responses to questions asking whether she had filed a

grievance and whether she had appealed, but Plaintiff added: “They sent it [back] to go to Step

II[.] I signed it [and] sent it back! I haven’t got it back.” Id.(emphasis added). 

With her objections, Plaintiff states that she has completed all steps of the grievance

procedure. However, accepting the complaint allegations as true, Plaintiff had not completed the

administrative grievance process, specifically step three, prior to filing this lawsuit. The Eighth

Circuit has instructed: 

Case 4:16-cv-00315-SWW Document 15 Filed 09/14/16 Page 1 of 2
IT IS SO ORDERED this 14th day of September, 2016.

/s/Susan Webber Wright

UNITED STATES DISTRICT JUDGE

Under the plain language of [42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a)], an inmate must exhaust

administrative remedies before filing suit in federal court. Thus, in considering

motions to dismiss for failure to exhaust under section 1997e(a), the district court

must look to the time of filing, not the time the district court is rendering its decision,

to determine if exhaustion has occurred. If exhaustion was not completed at the time

of filing, dismissal is mandatory.

Johnson v. Jones, 340 F.3d 624, 627 (8th Cir. 2003).

2

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