ALICEVILLE, ALABAMA — A federal judge dismissed a medical neglect lawsuit filed by former federal inmate Terri McGuire Mollica after determining she had not completed the Bureau of Prisons' administrative grievance process. Court records indicate that Mollica mailed a final grievance appeal to the Bureau of Prisons headquarters in Washington, D.C., which agency staff never recorded.

Mollica was incarcerated at FCI Aliceville, a low-security federal prison for women in west Alabama. A prison doctor diagnosed a uterine fibroid on Mollica in 2016. Court filings indicate the fibroid was initially treatable with a noninvasive surgery, but prison officials did not schedule the procedure, according to court and medical records. Mollica experienced heavy menstrual bleeding, frequently fainted, and reported her pain as an "8 out of 10" on sick call forms.

By 2018, a prison doctor determined the fibroid had enlarged to the size of a grapefruit. Medical records show physicians have since recommended a full hysterectomy for Mollica due to prolonged treatment delays. "They don't even try to fix the problem, they just look for a reason to deny it," Mollica said, adding, "I've never seen the grievance system help anybody."

A 1996 federal law requires inmates to complete the internal administrative grievance process before filing civil litigation. The agency's administrative remedy system requires inmates to submit carbon-copy forms sequentially to a warden, a regional office, and Washington, D.C. In 2023, fewer than 1% of federal medical grievances were granted. Approximately 50% of adjudicated federal prison grievances were rejected for procedural violations that year. Overall grievance approval rates for the agency decreased from nearly 7% in 2000 to less than 2% in 2023.

Bureau spokesperson Randilee Giamusso stated that inmates do not have remedies denied for minor procedural errors such as using a pencil, misspelling a name, or submitting forms in Spanish. "The program is intended to solve problems and be responsive to issues raised by inmates and does not prevent inmates from pursuing litigation," Giamusso said. Mollica was released to a halfway house in Alabama in January.