[Download] "Owens v. Keeling" by United States Court of Appeals * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Owens v. Keeling
- Author : United States Court of Appeals
- Release Date : January 29, 2006
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 66 KB
Description
Plaintiff-Appellant Orbain Owens filed a complaint pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1983 alleging that various officials employed by the Tennessee Department of Correction ("TDOC"), Defendants-Appellees George Keeling, Charles Szostecki, Joel Leegon, Jane Doe Weston, John Doe Sarago, and Charles Traughber, and Defendant-Appellee Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole ("TBOPP") violated his rights to free speech, due process, and equal protection of the laws, as well as the right to be free from cruel and unusual punishment under the U.S. Constitution. U.S. CONST. amends. I, VIII, XIV, § 1. The district court dismissed his complaint for failure to exhaust administrative remedies as required by the Prison Litigation Reform Act ("PLRA"), 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), and denied Owenss application to proceed as a pauper on appeal. Owens appealed both aspects of the judgment and the imposition of a second filing fee after his first complaint was dismissed for failure to exhaust. Because the district court erroneously considered the prisons grievance procedure an "available" remedy for Owenss classification-related complaint under the PLRA, 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), and failed to consider submissions showing that Owens exhausted the available remedy for classification-related complaints, we REVERSE the dismissal of Owenss complaint. We also HOLD that a second filing fee should not be assessed to a prisoner whose initial complaint was dismissed without prejudice for failure to exhaust. We GRANT Owens in forma pauperis status on appeal.