A nonsmoking prisoner filed a lawsuit against prison officials, alleging that they violated his Eighth Amendment rights by failing to protect him from secondhand smoke.  Ali-X also asserted that he suffers from medical conditions that were exacerbated by his exposure to secondhand smoke.  The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment, arguing that Ali-X failed to exhaust his administrative remedies prior to filing the lawsuit.  The U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey granted the motion for summary judgment, ruling that the Prison Litigation Reform Act, 42 U.S.C. sec. 1997e requires that a prisoner in Ali-X’s situation in prison must first exhaust his administrative remedies before filing a lawsuit.  The Court ruled that Ali-X “has come forward with no evidence to prove that he exhausted his administrative remedies.”

2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 54857 (D.N.J., 2013).