28 CFR § 40.1 - Definitions.

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t28/s40.1"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "28 CFR § 40.1 - Definitions."
title_number: 28
title_name: "Judicial Administration"
section_number: "40.1"
section_name: "Definitions."
chapter_name: "DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE"
part_number: "40"
part_name: "STANDARDS FOR INMATE GRIEVANCE PROCEDURES"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "42 U.S.C. 1997e."
regulatory_source: "Order No. 957-81, 46 FR 48186, Oct. 1, 1981, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "40"
---


# 40.1 Definitions.

For the purposes of this part—

(a) *Act* means the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act, Public Law 96-247, 94 Stat. 349 (42 U.S.C. 1997).

(b) *Applicant* means a state or political subdivision of a state that submits to the Attorney General a request for certification of a grievance procedure.

(c) *Attorney General* means the Attorney General of the United States or the Attorney General's designees.

(d) *Grievance* means a written complaint by an inmate on the inmate's own behalf regarding a policy applicable within an institution, a condition in an institution, an action involving an inmate of an institution, or an incident occurring within an institution. The term “grievance” does not include a complaint relating to a parole decision.

(e) *Inmate* means an individual confined in an institution for adults, who has been convicted of a crime.

(f) *Institution* means a jail, prison, or other correctional facility, or pretrial detention facility that houses adult inmates and is owned, operated, or managed by or provides services on behalf of a State or political subdivision of a State.

(g) *State* means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, or any of the territories and possessions of the United States.

(h) *Substantial compliance* means that there is no omission of any essential part from compliance, that any omission consists only of an unimportant defect or omission, and that there has been a firm effort to comply fully with the standards.