Even on Camera, Prisoners Face Near-Impossible Barriers to Suing Guards
A joint investigation by NPR and The Marshall Project has uncovered systemic barriers that make it nearly impossible for incarcerated people in federal prisons to sue guards for excessive force — even when the assault is captured on video. The investigation centers on the case of J.M., a federal prisoner at USP Atwater in California who was punched by a correctional officer on camera in November 2023, yet faced insurmountable obstacles in seeking legal recourse.
The Grievance System as a Barrier to Justice
Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) of 1996, incarcerated people must exhaust all internal grievance procedures before they can file a lawsuit in federal court. This requirement, intended to reduce frivolous litigation, has instead created what civil rights attorney Colin Prince calls a “chokehold over access to the courts.”
“The guards functionally have power over whether a prisoner can sue them for their own misconduct,” Prince told NPR. “The entire system is layer upon layer of bureaucratic insulation against accountability.”
According to an analysis of nearly 1 million federal prison grievance cases dating back to 2000, published by the Data Liberation Project, less than 2% of grievances filed in federal prison in 2023 were granted. A majority were rejected for procedural errors or administratively closed.
The Case of J.M.
On November 2, 2023, Officer Sandra Munagay punched prisoner J.M. on camera after a dispute over a confiscated straw sunhat. Munagay admitted to the assault and pleaded guilty in January 2026 to falsifying records about it. She was sentenced to four months in prison in June 2026.
But J.M. alleges the more severe harm came after the punch, in a hallway without cameras, where he says he was sexually assaulted with an unknown object by multiple guards. Medical records from that night note bleeding and tenderness in his rectum. No charges have been filed regarding this allegation.
Despite having video evidence of the initial assault, J.M. faced extraordinary barriers when trying to file a grievance. Prison staff seized and destroyed his paperwork, his lawsuit claims. By mid-January 2024, J.M. was expressing suicidality to the mental health department because he could not participate in the administrative remedy process.
Systemic Obstacles Across Federal Prisons
The investigation reveals that the grievance system is controlled by the same prison staff accused of abuse. Prisoners must obtain grievance forms from the officers they may be complaining about, and they have just 20 days after an incident to file — with no exemption for physical violence.
A separate analysis by the Prison Policy Initiative found that between 2014 and 2024, 98% of medical grievances in federal prisons were rejected. Less than 1% ended in a grant of relief. Zero grievances pertaining to pregnancy, abortion, or childcare were granted relief.
Former prisoners described widespread retaliation for attempting to file complaints. “The grievance system is a joke,” said Jimmy Hodge, who was released from federal prison in early 2025. “If you’re grieving over abuse, they’re going to harass you, they’re going to assault you, but you’re never going to get relief.”
A Pattern of Abuse and Cover-Up
J.M. had previously been held at USP Big Sandy in Kentucky, where six staff members were convicted for their role in abuse after guards had an unofficial policy of beating prisoners who requested protective custody. He was later transferred to USP Thomson in Illinois, where bureau officials closed the high-security Special Management Unit in 2023 after a prior investigation by The Marshall Project and NPR exposed a culture of abuse and multiple homicides.
At FCI Dublin in California, which closed in 2024 over widespread sexual abuse, officers frequently punished people for trying to file complaints. “They made it literally impossible for anybody to say anything,” said Aron Laureano, a former prisoner at the facility. “And that’s why they got away with it for so long.”
Fear of Retaliation
A Government Accountability Office report published in May 2026 found that most surveyed prisoners said they could experience retaliation from staff if they reported sexual abuse. Less than half said they would feel comfortable reporting to the warden or a corrections officer.
A Glimmer of Hope: The Supreme Court Weighs In
In June 2025, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Perttu v. Richards that incarcerated people have a right to a jury trial when they are accused of failing to file a prison grievance but claim they were prevented from doing so due to abuse or retaliation. The ACLU called the decision “important for the rights of incarcerated people, who too often are blocked from having their day in court.”
Congress also passed the Federal Prison Oversight Act in 2024, which authorized an independent ombudsman office to receive complaints from people in prison. However, Congress has yet to allocate funding for the new office.
What’s Next
The Bureau of Prisons has acknowledged the need to overhaul the administrative remedy program, with spokesperson Emery Nelson stating that the agency is “currently working on updates and additional guidance.” But advocates argue that meaningful reform requires independent oversight and fundamental changes to a system they say is designed to reject complaints rather than resolve them.
J.M.’s lawsuit is ongoing. Despite everything, he remains determined. “I’m resilient. I’m not going to give up just because other people failed,” he said. “I’m going to keep filing no matter how small or big the situation is, and hopefully something will change.”