Civil Rights; Prisoners; exhaustion

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Civil Rights
Prisoners; exhaustion

A prisoner must exhaust his administrative remedies before filing a civil rights suit against prison officials.

“Pavey’s remaining arguments assume the magistrate judge should have credited his testimony. Not only is this assumption wrong, but his contentions are unavailing even if his version of the facts ought to have been believed. He insists that his testimony shows he ‘literally’ complied with the procedures for initiating the prison’s grievance process. It does not. It is undisputed that Pavey did not submit a timely written complaint, and there is no evidence that Pavey asked anyone to help him fill out the proper form. He did not testify that he asked for assistance from Sergeant Nalls or Lieutenant Sarney. His testimony about soliciting assistance from Major Payne was inconsistent. To make sense of Pavey’s wavering account, the magistrate judge looked to Major Payne’s testimony that he would have immediately summoned the grievance specialist had Pavey requested help—an event that undisputedly did not occur. The judge did not err by refusing to believe that Pavey actually had put the request to the major. Whatever Pavey may have done, he did not ‘literally’ file a complaint or ask for assistance in filling out the form.”

Affirmed.

10-3878 Pavey v. Conley

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana, Miller, J., Sykes, J.

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