United States Court of Appeals

For the Seventh Circuit

Chicago, Illinois 60604

Argued October 4, 2006

Decided November 20, 2006

Before

 Hon. JOHN L. COFFEY, Circuit Judge

 Hon. TERENCE T. EVANS, Circuit Judge

 Hon. ANN CLAIRE WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge

No. 04-2099

ANIBAL SANTIAGO,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

DONALD SNYDER, et al., 

Defendants-Appellees.

Appeal from the United States District

Court for the Southern District of Illinois

No. 02-1060-GPM

G. Patrick Murphy,

Chief Judge.

O R D E R

Illinois state prisoner Anibal Santiago was charged with conspiring to assault

prison personnel and transferred to a super-maximum security facility, Tamms

Correctional Center, during the resolution of those charges. Santiago sued under

42 U.S.C. § 1983, alleging that his transfer was a form of retaliation for his prior

grievances and his wife’s outspoken criticism of the Illinois prison system. 

Santiago, however, waited eight months after his transfer before he pursued

administrative remedies, and an additional twenty-three months passed between

the time he exhausted those remedies and filed this suit. The district court granted

summary judgment for the defendants because Santiago failed to bring this suit

within the applicable two-year statute of limitations in Illinois. On appeal,

Santiago argues that the statute of limitations should have been tolled during the

eight months that he tried to resolve his grievances informally before initiating

UNPUBLISHED ORDER

Not to be cited per Circuit Rule 53
No 04-2099 Page 2

administrative proceedings. Because only formal exhaustion can toll the statute of

limitations, we affirm the judgment of the district court.

Before being transferred to Tamms, Santiago was serving out his sentence at

Menard Correctional Center. While at Menard, Santiago was informed in July 1999

that he was charged with conspiracy to assault prison personnel and participation

in other gang activity. In a letter he responded to the charges, insisting upon his

innocence and stating that the behavior for which he was charged was nothing more

than group prayer with fellow inmates in the exercise yard. He also alluded to

retaliation: “I have filed specific grievances, which is no reason for any reprisals to

be taken against me.” 

On August 4, Santiago was transferred to Tamms, where disciplinary

proceedings were held on his conspiracy charges. During these proceedings he

presented evidence to the adjustment committee in his defense. He also wrote

separately to two deputy directors of the prison system asserting that both the

charges against him and his transfer to Tamms were retaliatory. A third deputy

director responded to his letters by noting that Santiago’s disciplinary procedures

were still unresolved. Eventually, in November 1999 the adjustment committee at

Tamms found Santiago guilty of the conspiracy charges.

In April 2000 – eight months after his transfer to Tamms – Santiago filed a

formal grievance challenging his transfer to Tamms and the adjustment

committee’s decision. Eventually he exhausted his administrative remedies, and 23

months later, in October 2002, he filed this case.

Santiago argues that the district court should have tolled the statute of

limitations controlling his § 1983 action not only during the time period that he

exhausted formal administrative procedures (April - November 2000) but also

during the prior eight months during which he pursued informal means of resolving

his grievance. Santiago argues that his letters to prison officials and his defense at

his disciplinary proceedings substantively resembled formal grievance procedures,

and as such, satisfy the purposes of exhaustion, making them the type of actions for

which the limitations period should be tolled. 

The statute of limitations, however, is tolled only while the plaintiff seeks to

exhaust his administrative remedies. Johnson v. Rivera, 272 F.3d 519, 521-22 (7th

Cir. 2001). We have taken a “strict compliance approach” to what qualifies as

exhaustion. Dole v. Chandler, 438 F.3d 804, 809 (7th Cir. 2006). The prisoner must

follow formal procedures in the place and at the time that the prison’s

administrative rules require. Cannon v. Washington, 418 F.3d 714, 718 (7th Cir.

2005); see also 20 Ill. Adm. Code §§ 504.80, 504.810 (outlining grievance procedure

for offenders). Because exhaustion requires compliance with the prison’s
No 04-2099 Page 3

administrative procedures, the prisoner can exhaust his administrative remedies

only through the completion of such procedures. Pozo v. McCaughtry, 286 F.3d

1022, 1023 (7th Cir. 2002); see Dole, 438 F.3d at 809; Conyers v. Abitz, 416 F.3d 580,

584 (7th Cir. 2005); McCoy v. Gilbert, 270 F.3d 503, 510 (7th Cir. 2002). Santiago,

however, did not comply with formal grievance procedures, and thus the district

court was correct not to toll the limitations period. 

Santiago also argues that the statute of limitations should have been tolled

because its purpose is to ensure that defendants have notice of pending claims, and

here he apprised the prison of his claims through his letters to prison officials and

his defense before the adjustment committee. But tolling in the prison context

serves to prevent prisoners’ suits from becoming untimely while the prisoners

pursue mandatory administrative procedures. Johnson, 272 F.3d at 522. Because

Santiago eschewed these mandatory procedures, tolling is not available to him. See

Pozo, 286 F.3d at 1023.

Santiago next argues that the plain language of the Illinois tolling statute,

735 ILCS 5/13-216, requires that the statute of limitations be tolled from the time of

his alleged injury until the time when he exhausted administrative remedies. 

Section 13-216 tolls the statute of limitations when a claim is “statutorily

prohibited,” and the Prison Litigation Reform Act prohibits prisoners from filing

suit under § 1983 unless they first exhaust administrative remedies, see 42 U.S.C. §

1997e(a). But this is the same statutory language that we considered in Johnson, in

which we held that the statute is tolled only while the prisoner exhausts his

administrative remedies. 272 F.3d at 522. Santiago identifies no authority or

reason to disturb our interpretation of the statute in Johnson.

Santiago next asserts that he was confused about the grievance procedures

and thought that he had to complete his disciplinary proceedings for the conspiracy

charges before he could formally grieve his transfer. But Santiago’s transfer was a

distinct occurrence and injury, separate from the outcome of the disciplinary

proceedings, and he should have grieved it immediately. Cannon, 418 F.3d at 718

(the statute of limitations begins to run at the time an injury is discovered). 

Furthermore, to the extent he attributes his confusion to the letter from the deputy

director, that letter did not suggest anything about the grievance procedures he

should pursue, and it should not have been the cause of any confusion.

Finally, Santiago for the first time raises three additional arguments: 1) that

his claims were not ripe until after he exhausted administrative remedies and so

the statute of limitations should begin to run at that time; 2) that an Illinois statute

provided him with a year to refile this case after his dismissal from another lawsuit

of identical subject matter; and 3) that the statute of limitations should be equitably

tolled. By not raising these arguments in the district court, Santiago has forfeited
No 04-2099 Page 4

them. See, e.g., Witte v. Wis. Dep’t. of Corr., 434 F.3d 1031, 1038 (7th Cir. 2006);

Racine Charter One, Inc. v. Racine Unified Sch. Dist., 424 F.3d 677, 684 n.2 (7th

Cir. 2005).

The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.