Seventh Circuit -- Mannie Maddox v. Timothy Love

Mannie Maddox v. Timothy Love

Error in rejecting prisoner claim for failure to exhaust where administrative tribunal spoke to merits without addressing procedural shortcomings.

No RILUPA claim for denial of sectarian services, given sovereign immunity.

Pleading sufficiently alleges S1983 violations in cancellation of sect's services.

Where prison officials address an inmate’s grievance on the merits without rejecting it on procedural grounds, the grievance has served its function of alerting the state and inviting corrective action, and defendants cannot rely on the failure to exhaust defense.