Roberts v. San Bruno County Jail et al

Filing 6

ORDER OF DISMISSAL. Signed by Judge Charles R. Breyer on 2/22/2012. (Attachments: # 1 Certificate of Service)(beS, COURT STAFF) (Filed on 2/23/2012)

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 10 FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 11 12 TYE ROBERTS, #441672 Plaintiff(s), 13 14 15 16 vs. SAN BRUNO COUNTY JAIL, et al., Defendant(s). ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) ) No. C 11-5330 CRB (PR) ORDER OF DISMISSAL 17 18 Plaintiff, a prisoner at the San Francisco County Jail in San Bruno, has 19 filed a pro se complaint under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that a jail nurse ignored 20 his request for information on tuberculosis in prison. Plaintiff is concerned that 21 he shared a cell with another prisoner who has tuberculosis. Plaintiff filed a 22 grievance, but concedes that he did not exhaust the jail's administrative process 23 by proceeding to the highest level of appeal available to him. 24 The Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995 ("PLRA") amended 42 U.S.C. § 25 1997e to provide that "[n]o action shall be brought with respect to prison 26 conditions under [42 U.S.C. § 1983], or any other Federal law, by a prisoner 27 confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative 28 remedies as are available are exhausted." 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a). Although once 1 within the discretion of the district court, exhaustion in prisoner cases covered by 2 § 1997e(a) is now mandatory. Porter v. Nussle, 534 U.S. 516, 524 (2002). All 3 available remedies must now be exhausted; those remedies "need not meet 4 federal standards, nor must they be 'plain, speedy, and effective.'" Id. (citation 5 omitted). Even when the prisoner seeks relief not available in grievance 6 proceedings, notably money damages, exhaustion is a prerequisite to suit. Id.; 7 Booth v. Churner, 532 U.S. 731, 741 (2001). Similarly, exhaustion is a 8 prerequisite to all prisoner suits about prison life, whether they involve general 9 circumstances or particular episodes, and whether they allege excessive force or 10 some other wrong. Porter, 534 U.S. at 532. PLRA's exhaustion requirement 11 requires "proper exhaustion" of available administrative remedies. Woodford v. 12 Ngo, 548 U.S. 81, 93 (2006). 13 Nonexhaustion under § 1997e(a) is an affirmative defense which should 14 be brought by defendant(s) in an unenumerated motion to dismiss under Federal 15 Rule of Civil Procedure 12 (b). Wyatt v. Terhune, 315 F.3d 1108, 1119 (9th Cir. 16 2003). But a complaint may be dismissed by the court for failure to exhaust if a 17 prisoner "conce[des] to nonexhaustion" and "no exception to exhaustion applies." 18 Id. at 1120. Here, plaintiff concedes he did not exhaust available administrative 19 remedies through the highest level available to him before filing suit and sets 20 forth no reason why he should be excused from doing so. Nor has plaintiff 21 presented any extraordinary circumstances which might compel that he be 22 excused from doing so. Cf. Booth, 532 U.S. at 741 n.6 (courts should not read 23 "futility or other exceptions" into § 1997e(a)). 24 Accordingly, the complaint is DISMISSED without prejudice to refiling 25 after exhausting the jail's administrative process through the highest level 26 available to plaintiff. See McKinney v. Carey, 311 F.3d 1198, 1199-1201 (9th 27 28 2 1 Cir. 2002) (action must be dismissed without prejudice unless prisoner exhausted 2 available administrative remedies before he filed suit, even if prisoner fully 3 exhausts while the suit is pending). 4 The clerk shall enter judgment in accordance with this order, terminate all 5 pending motions as moot, and close the file. 6 SO ORDERED. 7 DATED: Feb. 22, 2012 8 CHARLES R. BREYER United States District Judge 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 G:\PRO-SE\CRB\CR.11\Roberts, T.11-5330.dismissal.wpd 27 28 3

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