Opinion ID: 216909
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Crumbley1

Text: Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA), “[n]o action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 . . . by a prisoner . . . until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.” 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). This exhaustion requirement “applies to all inmate suits about prison life, whether they involve general circumstances or particular episodes, and whether they allege excessive force or some other wrong.” Porter v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516, 532 (2002). The PLRA merely requires “[c]ompliance with prison grievance procedures . . . to ‘properly exhaust’” them. Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199, 218 (2007) “An inmate incarcerated in a state prison, thus, must first comply with the grievance procedures established by the state department of corrections before filing a federal lawsuit under section 1983.” Miller v. Tanner, 196 F.3d 1190, 1193 (11th Cir. 1999). According to the evidence in record, the GDC administrative grievance procedures consist of an informal grievance, a formal grievance, and an appeal. The inmate must file an informal grievance form no later than ten days from the 1 We review de novo the district court’s dismissal of a lawsuit for failure to exhaust available administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (“PLRA”), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e. Brown v. Sikes, 212 F.3d 1205, 1207 (11th Cir. 2000). The district court’s findings of fact are reviewed for clear error. Bryant v. Rich, 530 F.3d 1368, 1377 (11th Cir. 2008). 3 date the inmate knew or should have known of the facts giving rise to the grievance, but prison officials can waive that timeliness requirement for good cause shown. Inmates are only given a formal grievance form after they have fulfilled their obligation to first utilize the informal grievance process, and have five days from receipt of the resolution of the informal grievance to file the formal grievance. The last step in the grievance process is an appeal, but a grievance rejected as out-of-time may not be appealed. Crumbley argues that he exhausted all of his available administrative remedies, and thus the district court improperly dismissed his claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). We agree. It is uncontested that prison officials at Washington State Prison (“WSP”), where Crumbley had been relocated, accepted an untimely informal grievance on November 1, 2006, for good cause shown. Having met the good cause standard prior to filing his federal lawsuit, Crumbley effectively exhausted his administrative remedies as to this step in the grievance procedures. See Johnson v. Meadows, 418 F.3d 1152, 1159 (11th Cir. 2005) (“Prisoners must timely meet the deadlines or the good cause standard of Georgia’s administrative grievance procedures before filing a federal claim.”) (emphasis added). That Crumbley complied with this initial step is further shown by the fact that WSP officials gave him a formal grievance form, which is only 4 issued to those inmates who successfully complete the informal grievance step. Once Crumbley’s informal grievance was accepted for filing, Crumbley filed a formal grievance the next day. However, officials at CSP denied the formal grievance as out-of-time, and informed Crumbley that he could not appeal. We disagree with this conclusion, because Crumbley filed his formal grievance form within the five-day period required by the grievance procedures. As Crumbley was not allowed to appeal the denial of his formal grievance, he was not required to file an appeal in order to exhaust his administrative remedies. See Miller v. Tanner, 196 F.3d 1190, 1194 (11th Cir. 1999) (holding that an inmate is not required, in order to exhaust administrative remedies, to appeal an institution-level denial when he is unambiguously told that he may not appeal). Thus, because Crumbley complied with the grievance procedures applicable to him, he properly exhausted his administrative remedies. Accordingly, the district court erred in dismissing his claims pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a).