736
Opinion of the Court
II
In the aftermath of the Prison Litigation Reform Act of 1995,3 42 U. S. C. § 1997e(a) (1994 ed., Supp. V) provides that
"[n]o action shall be brought with respect to prison conditions under section 1983 of this title, or any other Federal law, by a prisoner confined in any jail, prison, or other correctional facility until such administrative remedies as are available are exhausted."
The meaning of the phrase "administrative remedies . . . available" is the crux of the case, and up to a point the parties approach it with agreement. Neither of them denies that some redress for a wrong is presupposed by the statute's requirement of an "available" "remed[y]"; neither argues that exhaustion is required where the relevant administrative procedure lacks authority to provide any relief or to take any action whatsoever in response to a complaint.4 The dispute here, then, comes down to whether or not a remedial scheme is "available" where, as in Pennsylvania, the administrative process has authority to take some action in response to a complaint, but not the remedial action an inmate demands to the exclusion of all other forms of redress.
In seeking the congressional intent, the parties urge us to give weight to practical considerations, among others, and at first glance Booth's position holds some intuitive appeal. Although requiring an inmate to exhaust prison grievance procedures will probably obviate some litigation when the administrative tribunal can award at least some of the relief sought, Booth argues that when the prison's process simply cannot satisfy the inmate's sole demand, the odds of keeping
3 110 Stat. 1321, as renumbered and amended.
4 Without the possibility of some relief, the administrative officers would presumably have no authority to act on the subject of the complaint, leaving the inmate with nothing to exhaust. The parties do not dispute that the state grievance system at issue in this case has authority to take some responsive action with respect to the type of allegations Booth raises.
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