This one goes to the inmates

The Court of Appeals issues this ruling to clarify one of the many issues left open when Congress passed the Prison Litigation Reform Act in the mid-1990s, intended to limit prisoner litigation by requiring them to file internal grievances with prison authorities before they can file suit in federal court. The Court says that while inmates must exhaust this administrative remedy, they do not have to wait for the jailers to take their sweet time in resolving the grievances before they can file suit.

The case is Hayes v. Dahlke, issued on October 5. Plaintiff says he was sexually molested during a pat frisk in jail. He grieved this offense under state regulations that require the internal grievance people to rule on the grievance within 18 days of their receipt of the grievance. If the jail denies the grievance, the inmate may file an internal appeal, which may ultimately land on the desk of the Central Office Review Committee (CORC), which has 30 days to issue a final ruling. What happens when the CORC does not issue a final ruling, making plaintiff wait? Can the inmate just file suit in federal court instead? 

The Second Circuit (Sullivan, Livingston and Nardini) notes this is an issue of first impression: "whether an inmate must wait for a response from prison officials to exhaust administrative remedies." The state regulations require that prison officials resolve the grievance appeal within 30 days. As the Court of Appeals notes, there are "no qualifications" to this requirement. While the state argues this deadline is only "aspirational" and not mandatory, the Second Circuit is not buying this argument. Nor was plaintiff required to file an Article 78 petition to compel the CORC to consider his appeal, and no cases support such a proposition. 

But here is the kicker for plaintiff. He did not actually file this case after the 30-day deadline had expired. He filed this case only 26 days after he filed the grievance appeal. Plaintiff did not actually exhaust the 30-day period. So the claim arising from that grievance is dismissed as a matter of law. So, while plaintiff loses the appeal on this issue, he wins this issue for other inmates who are made to wait interminably for the resolution of their grievances.