Public-domain · open source
OpenJurist

115 F. App'x 747

Guajardo v. Crain

U.S. Courts of Appeals

Decided December 17, 2004

This page is marked noindex.

U.S. Courts of Appeals · decided 2004-12-17

Applies 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (Civil Rights Act of 1871 / Section 1983 (Ku Klux Klan Act)) · 42 U.S.C. § 1997E

Relies on Underwood v. Wilson · Wendell v. Asher · Days v. Johnson

Decided 2004-12-17

PER CURIAM: *

¶1 Guadalupe Guajardo, Jr., Texas inmate # 170864, proceeding pro se and in forma *748 pauperis, filed a 42 U.S.C. § 1983 complaint challenging the constitutionality of correspondence rules adopted by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice with respect to prohibitions on inmate-to-inmate correspondence, decoration of envelopes, and “homemade” envelopes. The district court dismissed the complaint, pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1997e(a), for failure to exhaust administrative remedies.

¶2 Guajardo contends that he was not required to pursue administrative remedies because the Texas grievance system offers no avenue to make a statewide challenge to prison rules. He also argues that the district court should have required the defendants to answer his complaint and that the district court should have conducted an evidentiary hearing.

¶3 The exhaustion requirement is mandatory and applies to all inmate suits regardless of the forms of relief sought and offered through administrative remedies. Days v. Johnson, 322 F.3d 863, 866 (5th Cir.2003). The district court did not err in dismissing Guajardo’s suit for failure to exhaust administrative remedies. See id.

¶4 The district court was not required to obtain a response from the defendants pri- or to dismissing Guajardo’s complaint. See Wendell v. Asher, 162 F.3d 887, 889-90 (5th Cir.1998). Nor was the district court required to conduct an evidentiary hearing. See Underwood v. Wilson, 151 F.3d 292, 296 (5th Cir.1998). The judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.

*

¶5 Pursuant to 5th Cir. R. 47.5, the court has determined that this opinion should not be published and is not precedent except under *748 the limited circumstances set forth in 5th Cir. R. 47.5.4.

/115/fappx/747 · .json · Public domain