Held, an inmate exhausts a claim by taking advantage of each step the prison holds out for resolving the claim internally and by following the "critical procedural rules" of the prison's grievance process to permit prison officials to review and, if necessary, correct the grievance "on the merits" in the first instance. Under the Department of Corrections' procedural rules, inmates must include the "[d]ates, times, places and names of all those involved in the issue being grieved" in their initial grievance.. These rules suggest a straightforward answer to the question presented-"No"-because plaintiff did not identify the "names of all those involved in the issue being grieved.
The instant case was remanded as the plaintiff exhausted his claim because the Michigan Department of Corrections opted to dismiss the grievance on the merits rather than invoke its procedural bar.
