Turner, II v. Hartley et al

Filing 8

ORDER to SHOW CAUSE, signed by Magistrate Judge Gerald B. Cohn on 06/07/2011. (Show Cause - Thirty (30) day deadline) (Martin-Gill, S)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 7 EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 8 9 RICHARD J. TURNER, II, Case: No. 1:10-cv-01490-GBC (PC) 10 ORDER TO SHOW CAUSE REGARDING EXHAUSTION Plaintiff, 11 v. (Doc. 1) 12 JAMES D. HARTLEY, et al., 13 14 Defendants. / 15 16 I. 17 Richard J. Turner (“Plaintiff”) is a state prisoner proceeding pro se and in forma pauperis in 18 this civil rights action filed pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983. On August 18, 2010, Plaintiff filed his 19 original complaint. (Doc. 1). On the form complaint, Plaintiff concedes that he has not completed 20 exhaustion of administrative remedies explaining that he seeks emergency remedy to allow Muslim 21 prisoners, including himself, to access to the chapel during the holy month of Ramadan. (Doc. 1 at 22 2). Factual and Procedural Background 23 II. 24 Pursuant to the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995, “[n]o action shall be brought with 25 respect to prison conditions under [42 U.S.C. § 1983], or any other Federal law, by a prisoner 26 confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are 27 available are exhausted.” 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). Prisoners are required to exhaust the available 28 administrative remedies prior to filing suit. Jones v. Bock, 127 S.Ct. 910, 918-19 (2007); McKinney Exhaustion Requirement 1 1 v. Carey, 311 F.3d 1198, 1199-1201 (9th Cir. 2002). The Court must dismiss a case without 2 prejudice even when there is exhaustion while the suit is pending. Lira v. Herrera, 427 F.3d 1164, 3 1170 (9th Cir. 2005). 4 Exhaustion is required regardless of the relief sought by the prisoner. Booth v. Churner, 532 5 U.S. 731, 741, 121 S.Ct. 1819 (2001). A prisoner must “must use all steps the prison holds out, 6 enabling the prison to reach the merits of the issue.” Griffin v. Arpaio, 557 F.3d 1117, 1119 (9th Cir. 7 2009); see also Brown v. Valoff, 422 F.3d 926, 935 (9th Cir. 2005). A prisoner’s concession to 8 non-exhaustion is valid grounds for dismissal so long as no exception to exhaustion applies. 42 9 U.S.C. § 1997e(a); Wyatt v. Terhune, 315 F.3d 1108, 1120 (9th Cir. 2003). 10 The Court takes judicial notice of the fact that the California Department of Corrections and 11 Rehabilitation has an administrative grievance system for prisoner complaints. Cal. Code Regs., tit. 12 15 § 3084.1 (2008). The process is initiated by submitting a CDC Form 602. Id. at § 3084.2(a). 13 Four levels of appeal are involved, including the informal level, first formal level, second formal 14 level, and third formal level, also known as the “Director’s Level.” Id. at § 3084.5. Appeals must 15 be submitted within fifteen working days of the event being appealed, and the process is initiated by 16 submission of the appeal to the informal level, or in some circumstances, the first formal level. Id. 17 at §§ 3084.5, 3084.6(c). 18 In order to satisfy section 1997e(a), California state prisoners are required to use the available 19 process to exhaust their claims prior to filing suit. Woodford v. Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 126 S.Ct. 2378, 20 2383 (2006); McKinney, 311 F.3d at 1199-1201. “[E]xhaustion is mandatory under the PLRA and 21 . . . unexhausted claims cannot be brought in court.” Jones, 127 S.Ct. at 918-19 (citing Porter, 435 22 U.S. at 524). “All ‘available’ remedies must now be exhausted; those remedies need not meet 23 federal standards, nor must they be ‘plain, speedy, and effective.’” Porter, 534 U.S. at 524 (quoting 24 Booth, 532 U.S. at 739 n.5). In this instance, Plaintiff conceded that he has not exhausted 25 administrative remedies. 26 /// 27 /// 28 /// 2 1 III. 2 Because it appears that Plaintiff has not completed the grievance process, the Court 3 Conclusion and Order HEREBY ORDERS: 4 1. Plaintiff SHALL SHOW CAUSE why the action should not be dismissed for 5 failure to exhaust administrative remedies withing thirty (30) days of the date of 6 service of this order. 7 8 IT IS SO ORDERED. 9 10 Dated: 0jh02o June 7, 2011 UNITED STATES MAGISTRATE JUDGE 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 3

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