### The Honorable Charles A. Shaw, United States District Judge 1 

### for the Eastern District of Missouri. __________ 95-1768

__________ James W. Chambers, * * Appellant, * * v. * Appeal from the United States * District Court for the Morgan Warren; Bill Rodgers; * Eastern District of Missouri Rick Jones; William Kitchell; * Fred Johnson; Allen Luebbers; * [UNPUBLISHED] Paul K. Delo; Dora B. Schriro, * * Appellees. *

__________ Submitted: Sepember 12, 1995 Filed: December 1, 1995

__________ Before BOWMAN, BEAM, and MURPHY, Circuit Judges.

__________ PER CURIAM.
Missou ri inmate James W. Chambers appeals from an order of th e district court granting summary judgment in favor of defendant priso n 1 officials in this 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action. We affirm. Chambers filed two informal grievanc es against correctional officers during Jul y 1993. One alleged that a correctional officer had stole n photos of Chambers' wife from his cell and scratched his television. In the other C hambers claimed that a guard had set him up with a smal l quantity of marijuana. Chambers received conduct

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violations based on the content of the two grievance letters. The first vio lationwas for giving false information and the second for insultin g behavior. The defendant prison officials concluded Chambers was guilty in each instance based s olely on the statements of the guards he had accused of wron gdoing. He was given suspended activity restrictions for eac h violation. On appeal within the prison grievance system, both conduct viol ations were expunged in October 1993. In exchange, Chambers agreed in writin g that the expunctions were the final resolutions of his grievances.
This f ederal court action had been filed a month earlier. Count I of the verified complaint alleged high-ranking prison officials had adopte d an unwritten policy of allowing lower-ranking officials to retaliat e against inmates by punishing them for filing grievances. Counts II and II I allege dthat the officers directly involved in the incidents describe d above knew or should have known they violated his rights to petition for redress by punishing him. Count IV stated that he had asked Paul Delo , superintendent of the Potosi Correctional Facility, to correct th e constitutional violations and that he had refused. The district cour t granted summary judgm ent on all counts after concluding that Chambers had not presented evidence to create a genuine issue of material fact that the conduct violations were false. On appeal , Chambers argues that his verified complaint alleged that the conduct violations were false. We need not reach the issue ruled on bythe district court, however, because Chambers executed valid releases of h is claims against the defendants in return for expunction of hi s violations. An inmate may settle his claims voluntarily like any othe r litigant. The statements signed by Chambers accepted the expunctions as the "final resolution to [his] complaint" and a "final resolution to [his] grievance." There is no evidence in the record to suggest he was coerced in any

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wa y, and his federal court action was pending when he signed th e agreements.
These facts are unlike those in Dixon v. Brown , 38 F.3d 379, 37 9 (8th Ci r. 1994), in which prison officials unilaterally dismissed charge s against an inmate after he alleged in a federal court action that they wer e fil edin retaliation against him. Since injury inheres at the time a ret aliatorycharge is filed, the inmate's § 1983 action could not b e mootedby the unilateral action of prison officials. Id. In this case, however, Chambers vol untarily released his claims and is therefore barred from pursuing this action. Accordingly, the judgment of dismissal is affirmed.
A true copy.

Attest:
CLERK, U.S. COURT OF APPEALS, EIGHTH CIRCUIT.