CHARLES HARPER, PLAINTIFF-APPELLANT,
v.
DR. JENKIN, TOMMY REDDISH, LOUISE CASON, DEFENDANTS-APPELLEES
PER CURIAM: Section 1997e(a) of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) provides that “[n]o action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under [42 U.S.C. § ] 1983 ..., or any other federal law, by a prisoner confined in any ... prison ... until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted.” 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a).
This provision applies in this case because the prisoner, the appellant, filed his complaint after the PLRA’s effective date. Appellant is an inmate in the Georgia state prison system. He seeks both monetary and injunctive relief on the ground that appellees, or one of them, violated his Eighth (and Fourteenth) Amendment right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment by refusing him needed medical treatment. Because appellant seeks such relief, section 1997e(a) requires that he exhaust his administrative remedies before bringing suit. Appellant has invoked the prison system’s administrative process; he has done so by filing a grievance. His grievance has been denied, however, because it was untimely. Appellant could appeal such denial (within the prison system); he contends, however, that the appeal would not be heard (because his grievance was untimely).
Given this circumstance, his argument continues, he has exhausted his administrative remedies and, thus, the PLRA’s exhaustion requirement.
We disagree. As the district court noted in disposing of this case, Georgia State Prison Inmate Grievance Procedure No. 503.1 allows the grievance coordinator to waive the time period for filing a grievance if “good cause” is shown. Since appellant has not sought leave to file an out-of-time grievance, he cannot be considered to have exhausted his administrative remedies. If we were to accept appellant’s position— that the filing of an untimely grievance exhausts an inmate’s administrative remedies — inmates, such as appellant, could ignore the PLRA’s exhaustion requirement and still gain access to federal court merely by filing an untimely grievance.
In sum, we affirm the district court’s dismissal of appellant’s complaint without prejudice for failure to exhaust his administrative remedies. AFFIRMED.
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Bryant v. Rich, 530 F.3d 1368 (11th Cir. 2008)…of untimely grievances for good cause. Thus, Priester could have exhausted his administrative remedies by filing a grievance at GSP and then by showing good cause for its tardiness. But, he filed no grievance about the abuse. See Harper v. Jenkin, 179 F. 3d 1311, 1312 (11th Cir.1999) (“Since appellant has not sought leave to file an out-of-time grievance, he cannot be considered to have exhausted his administrative remedies.”); cf. Johnson, 418 F. 3d at 1159 (“Prisoners must timely meet the deadlines or the…
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Johnson v. Tydus Meadows, 418 F.3d 1152 (11th Cir. 2005)…ul of these policies favoring exhaustion, we look to our circuit precedent and our sister circuits’ precedent to decide whether an untimely grievance satisfies the exhaustion requirement of the PLRA. Although not directly on point, Harper v. Jenkin, 179 F. 3d 1311 (11th Cir.1999), is persuasive. In Harper, the prisoner filed an administrative grievance alleging that prison officials violated his rights under the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments by refusing him needed medical treatment. Id. at 1312. The Geor…
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Arsenio Leal v. Ga. Dep't OF Corr., 254 F.3d 1276 (11th Cir. 2001)…RA’s amendments to § 1997e(a), “[a]n inmate incarcerated in a state prison ... must first comply with the grievance procedures established by the state department of corrections before filing a federal lawsuit under section 1983”); Harper v. Jenkin, 179 F. 3d 1311, 1312 (11th Cir.1999) (per cu-riam) (affirming dismissal of prisoner’s civil suit for failure to satisfy the mandatory exhaustion requirements of § 1997e(a)); Alexander v. Hawk, 159 F. 3d 1321, 1328 (11th Cir.1998) (affirming dismissal of prisoner’s…
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