W.D. Pa. Notes Split Re Whether PLRA's Exhaustion Requirement Includes a Procedural Default Component

Per April v. Brooks, Slip Copy, 2008 WL 2275486 (W.D. Pa. May 30, 2008):

The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit has explicitly held that the exhaustion requirement of the PLRA includes a procedural default component, by analogizing it to the exhaustion doctrine (with its corollary procedural default component) in the habeas context. Spruill v. Gillis, 372 F.3d 218, 228-229 (3d Cir.2004).^FN3

FN3. There is a split of authority among the Circuits on this issue. Compare Berry v. Kerik, 366 F.3d 85 (2d Cir.2004), Ross v. County of Bernalillo, 365 F.3d 1181 (10th Cir.2004), and Pozo v. McCaughtry, 286 F.3d 1022 (7th Cir.2002), with Thomas v. Woolum, 337 F.3d 720 (6th Cir.2003).