Sec. 12.02.28.10. Formal Resolution of an Inmate Complaint — Preliminary Review

A. Facility Preliminary Review of a Request Form.

(1) Within 5 working days of the date of receipt of a Request form by the managing official, the facility ARC shall:

(a) Assign a case number to the request according to requirements established in Regulation .19 of this chapter;

(b) Index the request according to requirements established in Regulation .19 of this chapter; and

(c) Review the request to determine if the request:

(i) Is frivolous or malicious;

(ii) Is complete and submitted according to requirements under this chapter;

(iii) Is eligible for resolution under this chapter; and

(iv) Has been submitted within established time requirements; and

(d) Take action required under §A(2) or (3) of this regulation.

(2) If the request is determined to be frivolous or malicious, the managing official, or a facility ARC, shall:

(a) Properly complete the appropriate part of the Request form; and

(b) Record that the request is procedurally dismissed as being frivolous or malicious, or both.

(3) If the Request form is determined to incomplete and the missing information is necessary to review the inmate’s complaint, the managing official or facility ARC shall:

(a) Properly complete the appropriate part of the Request form;

(b) Record that the request is procedurally dismissed as being incomplete;

(c) Provide specific direction to resolve the noted issue;

(d) Establish a due date for the resubmission that is the later of:

(i) 15 calendar days from the date of the procedural dismissal; or

(ii) 30 calendar days of the date of the original submission of the Request form;

(e) Return the completed Request form and a blank Request form to the inmate; and

(f) File a copy of the completed Request form in the appropriate ARP file.

(4) A Request form may not be determined incomplete and therefore procedurally dismissed pending resubmission under §A(3) of this regulation solely because the inmate did not include information concerning actions taken to informally resolve the complaint.

(5) After the managing official or a facility ARC reviews a Request form, the facility ARC shall:

(a) Appropriately process the request based on the action resulting from the preliminary review;

(b) Ensure that the affected individuals are notified of the result of the preliminary review;

(c) If the Request form is not subject to procedural dismissal on preliminary review on the date the case is indexed:

(i) Review the request to determine the nature of the case and assign the case for investigation by an individual familiar with the nature of the case; and

(ii) Return the receipt portion of the Request form to the inmate filing the request; and

(d) Appropriately file the ARP documents.

B. Headquarters Preliminary Review of a Request Form. If a Request form is submitted directly to the Commissioner without being submitted first to the inmate’s managing official, the Commissioner, or a designee, shall:

(1) Refer the Request form to the appropriate managing official including the date that the request was received by the Commissioner;

(2) Record the Request form in the Headquarters index without a case number; and

(3) Notify the inmate submitting the Request form, in writing, of the request being referred to the managing official.

C. A managing official who receives a Request form from the Commissioner shall process the Request form in accordance with provisions under §A of this regulation.