UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

DISTRICT OF OREGON 

LEE GORDON LAMB, 

JERI TAYLOR,-

et al., 

Plaintiff, 

v. 

Defendants. 

McShane, District Judge. 

2:14-cv-0909-MC 

ORDER 

Plaintiff, an inmate in the custody of the Oregon 

Department of Corrections (ODOC), filed a complaint under 42 

U.S.C. alleging three claims for relief. Plaintiff alleges as 

his third claim that defendants are violating his First, 

Eighth and Fourteenth Amendment rights by denying him access 

to religious materials and accessories for Wiccan 

practitioners. Specifically, plaintiff alleges that he has 

been denied access to "robes, stones for channeling power, 

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Case 2:14-cv-00909-MC Document 54 Filed 03/16/15 Page 1 of 6
frankincense, Celtic sea salts, etc." Complaint (#2) p. 5. 

Defendants now move for partial summary judgment (#21) 

the ground that plaintiff did not exhaust his administrative 

remedies as to his third claim before filing this action. 

The Prison Litigation Reform Act requires that prisoners 

exhaust available administrative remedies before bringing a 

federal action concerning prison conditions. Griffin v. 

Arpaio, 557 F.3d 1117, 1119 (9th Cir. 2009) (citing 42 U.S.C. 

§ 1997e (a)). Inmates are required to exhaust all grievance 

remedies before filing a Section 1983 action, including 

appealing the grievance decision to the highest level within 

the grievance system. Wyatt v. Terhune, 315 F. 3d 1108 (9th 

Cir. 2003); Bennett v. King, 293 F.3d 1096, 1098 (9th Cir. 

2002); McKinney v. Carey, 311 F. 3d 1198 (9th Cir. 2002). 

Moreover, "the PLRA exhaustion requirement requires proper 

exhaustion." Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 93 (2006). This 

means that a prisoner must "complete the administrative review 

process in accordance with the applicable procedural rules, 

including deadlines, as a precondition to bringing suit in 

federal court." Marella v. Terhune, 568 F.3d 1024, 1027 (9th 

Cir. 2009) (quoting Woodford, 548 U.S. at 88). 

"If the District Court concludes that the prisoner has 

not exhausted non-judicial remedies, the proper remedy is 

dismissal of the claim without prejudice." Wyatt v. Terhune, 

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Case 2:14-cv-00909-MC Document 54 Filed 03/16/15 Page 2 of 6
315 F.3d at 1120. 

Inmates are encouraged to communicate with line staff 

verbally or in writing as a primary means of resolving 

disputes. However, if this does not bring resolution, the 

inmate may file a grievance. The ODOC has a three level 

grievance and appeal remedy process codified at OAR 291-109-

0100 to 291-109-0190. First, an inmate may appeal any 

grievance decision to the functional unit manager. Declaration 

of Arnell Eynon (#22) ~ 9. Second, an inmate may appeal the 

decision of the functional unit manager to the Assistant 

Director whose decision on a grievance appeal is final and not 

subject to further review. Id. at ~10. Inmates are informed 

of the processes for filing a grievance during admission and 

orientation to the facility where they are housed. In 

addition the grievance process is explained in the Inmate 

Handbook, which is given to each inmate. Id. Plaintiff 

acknowledges that there is a grievance procedure at the 

institution where he is incarcerated. Complaint (#2) p. 2. 

Plaintiff alleges in Claim III that he has sent kytes to 

defendants Cayton and Holman "regarding the lack of religious 

materials and accessories" and that "both have ignored" the 

communications. Complaint (#2) p. 5. Plaintiff further 

alleges that he "kyted" defendant Hodney who has "denied me 

access to robes, stones for channeling power, Frankincense, 

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Case 2:14-cv-00909-MC Document 54 Filed 03/16/15 Page 3 of 6
Celtic sea salts, etc." Plaintiff further alleges that"ODOC 

refuses to allow us some way to practice in full privacy with 

no witnesses." Id. 

The Declaration of Arnell Eynon (#22) establishes that 

plaintiff filed three grievances concerning the denial of 

religious services or materials. 

In Grievance TRCI.2012.02.144, filed February 23, 2012, 

plaintiff complained that he had not been provided copies of 

the Gaelic, Celtic, German, and French translations of the 

King James Version of the Bible. On April 3, 2012, Chaplian 

Hodney responded that Religious Services did not have those 

translations of the King James Bible, but that they would 

"continue to pursue the matter." Eynon Declaration (#22) 12-

13. 

Plaintiff's grievance TRCI.2012.02.144 does not mention 

the items he alleges in Claim III, and it appears to be 

irrelevant to plaintiff's Claim III. However, even if the 

grievance could reasonable be construed as pertaining to the 

claims in this proceeding, plaintiff did not exhaust the 

grievance because he did not file a first or second appeal. 

Eynon Declaration (#22) ~14. 

In Grievance TRCI.2014.02.136, dated February 22, 2014, 

plaintiff complained about the lack of a regular Wiccan 

Priestess to perform Wiccan services at TRCI. Plaintiff 

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Case 2:14-cv-00909-MC Document 54 Filed 03/16/15 Page 4 of 6
appealed Chaplin Hodney's response to his grievance and 

defendants acknowledge that plaintiff "successfully exhausted 

this grievance." Eynon Declaration (#22) ! 21. 

However, although plaintiff exhausted his administrative 

remedies as to the matter's complained of in Grievance TRCI 

2014.02.136, the issue in that grievance was the lack of a 

Wiccan Priestess which is a distinct, grievable issue apart 

and different from the issue alleged in Claim III. A review of 

Grievance TRCI 2014.02.136 and the responses to it do not 

include any references to "robes, stones for channeling, 

Celtic sea salts, etc." 

In Grievance TCRI.2014.02.143, dated February 22, 2014, 

plaintiff complained that Chaplin Cardona told plaintiff that 

currently there was no Wiccan volunteer to conduct services at 

TRCI. And made statements such as "why do you want to be a 

Wiccan?" and "that's the devils work." This grievance was 

denied for abuse of the grievance system and plaintiff did not 

file a first or second level appeal. Eynon Declaration (#22) 

' 22-23. 

In summary, none of the three grievances plaintiff filed 

concern the allegations set forth in Claim III of his 

complaint. Grievance coordinator Arnell Eynon made a through 

search of her records and found no other grievances concerning 

religious service, materials and/or accessories or other 

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Case 2:14-cv-00909-MC Document 54 Filed 03/16/15 Page 5 of 6
grievances that plaintiff filed against the defendants named 

in his complaint. Based on the foregoing I find that plaintiff 

has not properly exhausted his administrative remedies with 

respect to his Claim III in this proceeding. Therefore, 

defendants' Motion for partial summary judgment ( #21) is 

allowed. Plaintiff's Claim III is dismissed without 

prejudice. 

Plaintiff's Motion to Sever (#46) is moot insofar as it 

seeks to "sever count three" and "sever Tim Cayton and Holmes 

from the first two claims." In addition, the motion is 

unnecessary to "join claims one and two" and otherwise realign 

defendants. Therefore, the Motion (#46) is denied. 

Plaintiff's "Motion for oral argument and presentation of 

exhibits" (#47) is denied as moot. 

Any appea~ £rom this order or judgment dismissing this 

case wou~d be £rivo~ous and not taken in good faith. 

Therefore, p~ainti££'s in forma pauperis status is revoked. 

IT IS SO ORDERED 

DATED this Ito day of March, 2015. 

l 

Michael McShane 

United States District Judge 

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