Neil Dupree v. Kevin Younger

Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PLRA), prisoners cannot sue officials unless they have exhausted “such administrative remedies as are available.” 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). In Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. 632 (2016), this Court held that a remedy is “available” under the PLRA so long as it is “capable of use” to obtain “some relief for the action complained of.” Id. at 642. This case involved an attack on multiple prisoners that triggered an Internal Investigative Unit (IIU) investigation. Under Maryland law, prisoners can obtain a remedy from the Inmate Grievance Office (IGO) during an IIU investigation by first seeking relief from the warden, then seeking relief from the IGO. Prisoners routinely have their complaints adjudicated on the merits using this procedure, including another prisoner who was a victim of the same attack at issue in this case. The question presented is: Whether a grievance procedure that prisoners regularly have been able to use to have their claims adjudicated on the merits is “available” for that reason. (i)