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| Supreme Court Says Inmates Must Use Grievance System |
| By Reuters |
| Published: 03/11/2002 |
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A unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled on February 26 that inmates must exhaust prison grievance procedures before suing to seek relief over prison conditions, such as beatings by corrections officers. The court said the requirement to use grievance procedures applied to all inmate suits about prison life, whether they involved general circumstances or particular episodes and whether they alleged excessive force or some other wrong. The ruling clarified the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, which Congress adopted to cut down on frivolous lawsuits. The law requires inmates to exhaust administrative remedies in the prison before suing. The case involved Ronald Nussle, an inmate in Connecticut who charged officers subjected him to a pattern of harassment and intimidation and singled him out for a severe bearing in violation of his constitutional rights. He bypassed the prison grievance system. A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit, ruling Nussle had to pursue the prison grievance system for resolving inmate complaints. But a U.S. appeals court said the exhaustion requirement did not apply to Nussle's complaint. It said the law does not apply to complaints about single incidents. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in the opinion the appeals court was wrong in its interpretation of the 1995 law. |
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