Roles

I. Background

Roles is incarcerated in the Idaho Correctional Center (“ICC”), a prison operated by a private corporation, the Cor- rections Corporation of America, Inc. (“CCA”), under con- tract with the Idaho Department of Correction. Roles claims that a CCA employee confiscated eight magazines from his cell, allegedly because he had kept them for more than six months. Roles argues that the seizure of the magazines vio- lated his constitutional rights and Idaho law. Invoking § 1997e(a), the district court dismissed the suit because Roles had not exhausted the prison’s internal grievance procedures to try to resolve his complaint. Roles acknowledges that he did not do so, but argues that the PLRA exhaustion rule does not apply because he is being held in a private rather than a state-owned prison and, in any event, confiscation of maga- zines is not a prison condition.

As have our sister circuits, we hold that the PLRA’s exhaustion requirement applies with equal force to prisoners held in private prisons. Our conclusion is consistent with the plain language of the statute and the purpose of the exhaustion requirement. We further hold that confiscation of magazines is a prison…