Ernest Lee Vaden v. K. Summerhill R.L. Gower St. Andre Chapman W.A. Duncan

Prisoners frequently file lawsuits in federal court regarding prison conditions. The Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (“PLRA”), in 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), requires that a prisoner exhaust available administrative remedies before bringing these actions. In this case, a California state prisoner sent a complaint to the district court before he had exhausted his administrative remedies within the state prison system. He did, however, exhaust those remedies by the time the district court granted him permission to file his complaint in forma pauperis under 28 U.S.C. § 1915 . The district court concluded that the prisoner satisfied the PLRA’s exhaustion requirement in those circumstances. We conclude, however, that the PLRA requires that a prisoner exhaust administrative remedies before submitting any papers to the federal courts. Because the prisoner here has not met that requirement, this action must be dismissed without prejudice.

I. BACKGROUND

The California Department of Corrections provides a four-step grievance pro cess for prisoners who seek review of an administrative decision or perceived mistreatment: an informal level, a first formal level, a second formal level, and the…