Opinion ID: 204350
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Availability of an Administrative Remedy

Text: The applicable portions of LCDC's grievance procedure read: POLICY: An inmate shall be allowed to file a grievance at such time as the inmate believes he or she has been subject to abuse, harassment, abridgement of civil rights, or denied privileges specified in the posted rules. (Grievances must be restricted to incidents which occur while the prisoner is in custody of the facility.) . . . . PROCEDURE: 1. Transmittal: A grievance shall be made in the form of a written statement by the inmate promptly following the incident, sealed in an unstamped envelope and addressed to the Jailer or his designee such statement shall be transmitted promptly and without interference to the Jailer by a detention officer distributed to all LCDC prisoners in the inmate orientation manual, (R.E. at 19, Resp. to Disc. Req.), and he therefore had at least constructive notice of the policy because it was provided to him. Second, the orientation manual also included how to seek medical assistance, a process which he initiatedsuccessfullymore than once; therefore, he showed subjective awareness of some policies, not to mention that his experience was that jail authorities were responsive to administrative petitions (albeit of a different kind). Lastly, when asked whether he had filed a formal grievance, Napier admitted that he had not done so; he did not say he was unaware of the policy. or staff member to whom the grievance is given. Napier does not contend that the policy would not have covered him or his claims while in the LCDC. Nor does he contend that he exhausted remedies, to the extent he could. Instead, he argues 1) he need not exhaust because no administrative process at the Marion facility can provide a remedy, and 2) the administrative process at LCDC was not available to him when he filed suit because he was in a different prison.