Silva

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA Jerome MITCHELL, Case No.: 3:18-cv-2044-DMS-AGS Plaintiff, AMENDED REPORT AND

RECOMMENDATION TO DENY

v.

DEFENDANTS’ SUMMARY-

JUDGMENT MOTION (ECF 33) AND

TO GRANT SUMMARY JUDGMENT

A. SILVA, et al.,

FOR PLAINTIFF ON DEFENDANTS’

Defendants. EXHAUSTION DEFENSE 16 Inmate Jerome Mitchell used prison-appeal “Form 602” to report correctional- officer brutality. In retaliation, a guard allegedly told him, “If you keep trying to file 602s[,] we[’]re going to f—k you up.” This threat, among others, convinced Mitchell to abandon the prison’s administrative-appeal process and instead bring this civil-rights lawsuit. The guards now move for summary judgment because Mitchell failed to exhaust his administrative appeals. That motion should be denied because the guards’ alleged threats rendered those appeals effectively unavailable. BACKGROUND On July 6,…