Section 504.810  Filing of Grievances

a)         An offender may file a written grievance on a grievance form that shall be made available in all living units. Grievances shall be addressed to his or her institutional counselor; however, complaints concerning discipline or sexual abuse shall be sent by the offender directly to the Grievance Officer. A grievance must be filed with the counselor or Grievance Officer in accordance with the procedures in this Subpart, within 60 days after the discovery of the incident, occurrence or problem that gives rise to the grievance.  However, if an offender can demonstrate that a grievance was not timely filed for good cause, the grievance shall be considered.  Grievances related to allegations of sexual abuse shall not be subject to any filing time limit.

b)         The grievance procedure shall not be utilized for complaints regarding decisions that have been rendered by the Director, such as, but not limited to, facility placement, awards of supplemental sentence credit or transfer denials, or decisions that are outside the authority of the Department, such as parole decisions, clemency or orders regarding length of sentence.

c)         The original grievance form shall be deposited in the living unit mailbox or other designated repository.  The grievance shall contain factual details regarding each aspect of the offender's complaint, including what happened, when, where and the name of each person who is the subject of or who is otherwise involved in the complaint.  This provision does not preclude an offender from filing a grievance when the names of individuals are not known, but the offender must include as much descriptive information about the individual as possible.

d)         Staff assistance shall be available as requested by those offenders who cannot prepare their grievances unaided as determined by institutional staff.

1)         All offenders shall be entitled to file grievances regardless of their disciplinary status or classification.

2)         Each facility shall take reasonable steps to ensure that the grievance procedure is accessible to offenders who are impaired, disabled or unable to communicate in the English language.

3)         If staff assistance writing the grievance form is provided, the name of the individual providing the assistance shall be documented on the form.

e)         Offenders shall be informed of the grievance procedure at the admitting facility and may request further information regarding the procedure from their counselors.

1)         The written procedure shall be available to all offenders.

2)         An offender unable to speak or read the English language may request that the procedure be explained in the individual's own language.

(Source:  Amended at 41 Ill. Reg. 3869, effective April 1, 2017)