Jones v. Bock
- Decided
- January 22, 2007
- Docket
- 05-7058
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 10,443 timesNo negative treatment found in this library
What later courts said
- holding that 28 U.S.C. § 1915A does not require prisoners affirmatively to plead that they have exhausted their administrative remedies — Abbas v. Dixon (2007)
- holding that a county jail’s administrative remedies became unavailable after an inmate was transferred beyond the county jail’s jurisdiction — Mark Cowart v. Erwin (2016)
- holding that PLRA exhaustion is mandatory, and prisoners cannot bring unexhausted claims into federal court — Shikeb Saddozai v. Ron Davis (2022)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Chief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court.
In an effort to address the large number of prisoner complaints filed in federal court, Congress enacted the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA), 110 Stat. 1321-71, as amended, 42 U. S. C. § 1997e et seq.
Among other reforms, the PLRA mandates early judicial screening of prisoner complaints and requires prisoners to exhaust prison grievance procedures before filing suit. 28 U. S. C. § 1915A; 42 U. S. C. § 1997e(a). The Sixth Circuit, along with some other lower courts, adopted several procedural rules designed to imple [*203] ment this exhaustion requirement and facilitate early judicial screening. These rules require a prisoner to allege and demonstrate exhaustion in his complaint, permit suit only against defendants who were identified by the prisoner in his grievance, and require courts to dismiss the entire action if the prisoner fails to satisfy the exhaustion requirement as to any single claim in his complaint. Other lower courts declined to adopt such rules. We granted certiorari to resolve the conflict and now conclude that these rules are not required by the PLRA, and that crafting and imposing them exceeds the proper limits on the judicial role.
Statutes cited
Cite this
Jones v. Bock, 549 U.S. 199 (2007)Read the full opinion
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