Dist. Ct. erred in dismissing plaintiff-prisoner's section 1983 action, alleging that defendants-prison officials used excessive force against him, where Dist. Ct. found that plaintiff had failed to exhaust his prison administrative remedies prior to filing instant lawsuit. Exhaustion was not required, where prison officials did not provide plaintiff with clear directives to appeal his grievance as part of his administrative remedies. Moreover, although Review Board told plaintiff that his grievance appeal was missing specific documents, it failed to check box indicating that said documents needed to be provided or that some explanation needed to be given for their absence. Also, plaintiff had no reason to believe that anyone was looking into his grievance, and record showed that no prison official ever responded with answer to plaintiff's standard grievance.
Federal 7th Circuit Court
Civil Court
Prisoners