William Elias Jacob Cross v. Long, et al.

Summary

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana granted defendants’ motion for summary judgment in William Elias Jacob Cross’s prisoner civil-rights action. The court held that Cross failed to exhaust available administrative remedies under the Prison Litigation Reform Act because he did not correct and resubmit a grievance that improperly combined multiple issues. The court directed the clerk to enter judgment for the defendants and close the case.

Holdings

1. Defendants were entitled to summary judgment because the undisputed record showed that Cross had available administrative remedies but did not fully exhaust them before filing suit.
2. Cross did not exhaust his claims because the grievance office properly returned his grievance as unprocessed for containing multiple issues, and Cross did not correct and resubmit it as instructed.

Questions Presented

1. Whether defendants were entitled to summary judgment because Cross failed to exhaust available administrative remedies before filing his prison-conditions action.
2. Whether Cross's grievance satisfied the prison's requirement that each grievance concern only one event or issue when it listed multiple unrelated conditions and injuries.

Disposition

other