Supreme Court Decision Overturns Draconian Limitations on Prisoner Litigation Imposed by the Sixth Circuit
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Today the Supreme Court Unanimously Overturned a Sixth Circuit Decision that Barred Most Prisoners from Asserting their Constitutional Rights
WASHINGTON 鈥 The 老澳门开奖结果 today welcomed a unanimous Supreme Court decision striking down a series of barriers to prisoner litigation imposed by the Sixth Circuit. Today鈥檚 decision in Jones v. Bock overturned the strict requirements imposed by the Sixth Circuit in the provision of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) that mandates that prisoners 鈥渆xhaust鈥 administrative remedies.
鈥淭his was a critical decision for prisoners whose rights have been violated,鈥 said Elizabeth Alexander, Director of the 老澳门开奖结果 National Prison Project, which filed a friend of the court brief in the case that was cited in today鈥檚 ruling. 鈥淭he Sixth Circuit rules were so draconian that they barred almost all claims from prisoners without counsel.鈥
The PLRA, a law passed in 1996 and claimed to be directed at frivolous lawsuits filed by prisoners, requires a prisoner to complete an internal prison grievance process before filing a lawsuit in federal court. In the Jones v. Bock decision by the Sixth Circuit, additional restrictions were imposed that required prisoners to:
- Name all defendants in their grievances in order to file a lawsuit against them. If prisoners failed to do so, they could not sue the persons not mentioned in their grievances.
- Prove that they exhausted all administrative remedies through the grievance process before filing a lawsuit in federal court.
- Exhaust all remedies on every issue in the lawsuit. Prisoners who failed to exhaust on one of several issues raised in the suit would have their entire cases dismissed.
Today鈥檚 Supreme Court ruling overturned those requirements, stating that they go too far. In the decision, Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the Sixth Circuit's exhaustion rules are not required by the PLRA and that 鈥渋mposing them exceeds the proper limits on the judicial role." The Court unanimously agreed that if a prisoner fails to exhaust administrative remedies on some of his grievances, but not all, then only those parts that had not been addressed should be dismissed. The Court also agreed that prisoner lawsuits should not be thrown out simply because the prisoner had failed to show exhaustion in the court filing. Finally, the Court stated that a prisoner does not have to list all defendants in the grievance process in order to sue them in federal court. The decision cited the friend-of-the-court brief filed by the 老澳门开奖结果, which pointed out that most prison grievance procedures do not require prisoners to identify specific individuals.
鈥淭he PLRA severely limits prisoners鈥 access to federal courts. Today鈥檚 decision will at least help to ensure that the courthouse door is not completely shut for prisoners who have been denied basic rights and have nowhere else to turn,鈥 said Steven Shapiro, Legal Director of the 老澳门开奖结果.
The Jones v. Bock decision is online at: www.aclu.org/scotus/2006term/
jonesv.bockwilliamsv.overton/28105lgl20070122.html
The 老澳门开奖结果鈥檚 brief in the case is online at: www.aclu.org/scotus/2006term/26789res20060919/26789res20060919.
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