BOP Form BP-11: Central Office Appeal Deadline, Filing, and Response

BOP Form BP-11 is the Central Office appeal to the General Counsel, the third and final step in the Federal Bureau of Prisons Administrative Remedy Program. You file it after the Regional Director denies your BP-10, and you have 30 calendar days from the date the Regional Director signed that response to get it in the mail. Completing this step exhausts your internal BOP remedies, which is what the Prison Litigation Reform Act requires before you can sue over prison conditions.

The Deadline and Where to Send It

The clock is 30 calendar days from the date the Regional Director signed the BP-10 response, not the date you received it.¹ Look at the signature line on the regional decision and count from there.

Mail the completed, signed, and dated form to the National Inmate Appeals Administrator, Office of General Counsel, Federal Bureau of Prisons, 320 First Street NW, Washington, DC 20534.² There is no electronic filing option; the BOP’s program statement requires the appeal to be mailed.³ Using the institution’s legal mail system creates a dated record of when you sent it, which matters if timeliness is later disputed.

What Goes on the Form and What Must Come With It

Get the BP-11 from your correctional counselor or other institution staff.³ Fill in the identifying information and use the space provided to explain why the Regional Director’s decision was wrong. If you need more room, you may attach one additional letter-size (8½ × 11 inch) continuation page. One page. No more.¹

The BP-11 can only address issues you raised in the BP-9 and BP-10. Adding a new complaint at this stage, or bundling grievances that had separate case numbers below, will get the appeal rejected.¹ Focus the statement on where the regional response misread policy or failed to answer the actual problem.

Attachments are not optional. You must include one complete copy (or duplicate original) of every earlier filing and response: the BP-9 with the warden’s response, the BP-10 with the Regional Director’s response, and any exhibits filed below. You then have to provide three additional copies of the entire package for the Central Office.¹ Without the earlier paperwork, the General Counsel has no way to verify that the earlier steps were completed, and the appeal comes back rejected.

If You Missed the 30-Day Deadline

A late BP-11 is not automatically dead. The regulations allow acceptance if you can show a valid reason for the delay. Recognized reasons include:

Extended transit between facilities that separated you from the documents needed to prepare the appeal.
Physical incapacity that prevented you from preparing the appeal for a prolonged period.
An unusually long attempt at informal resolution.
An unreasonable delay by staff in providing copies of prior dispositions you requested.

Getting help from another inmate or staff member is not, by itself, a valid excuse for missing the deadline, unless staff caused the delay.⁴ Whatever the reason, put it in writing with the appeal and include any supporting documentation.

If Your BP-11 Comes Back Rejected

A rejection is a procedural bounce, not a decision on the merits. The Central Office rejects for technical defects: a missing signature, missing attachments, an unauthorized second continuation page, issues that weren’t in the earlier filings. When that happens, the Administrative Remedy Coordinator sends a written notice that explains the specific defect.⁴

If the problem is fixable, the notice will give you a reasonable time extension to correct and resubmit. Do not treat a rejection as the end of the road. If the notice does not offer a chance to cure the defect, you can appeal the rejection itself to the next level.

How Long the General Counsel Has to Respond

Once your BP-11 is properly filed, the General Counsel has 40 calendar days to issue a written response. The office can extend that once by 20 days, for a maximum of 60 calendar days total, and must notify you in writing of any extension.⁵

If you never hear back within the full time (including any extension), you can treat the silence as a denial. At that point the administrative remedy process is considered fully exhausted, the same as if a written denial had come.⁵

What Comes After the BP-11

A final BP-11 decision, or a constructive denial from missed response deadlines, is the point where the BOP’s internal process ends and federal court becomes an option. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, no prisoner can bring a lawsuit challenging prison conditions until all available administrative remedies are exhausted.⁶ Courts will generally dismiss a suit filed by an inmate who skipped a step or never filed a BP-11, though usually without prejudice, meaning it can be refiled after the process is completed.

The statute of limitations for a federal civil rights claim is typically tolled while the administrative remedy process is pending, so the clock is not running against you while the BP-9, BP-10, and BP-11 are working through the system. The limitation period itself varies, because federal civil rights claims under Section 1983 borrow the personal injury statute of limitations from the state where the claim arose. Once you have a final denial or a constructive denial on the BP-11, research the deadline in your jurisdiction promptly.

Situations That Follow Different Rules

Not every grievance runs through the standard BP-9 to BP-10 to BP-11 sequence. A few tracks have their own rules, and if your situation fits one of them, the ordinary timeline may not apply.

Sensitive Filings

If you reasonably believe your safety would be at risk if a grievance became known at your facility, you can bypass the institutional level and send the request directly to the Regional Director. Mark the filing “Sensitive” and include a written explanation of the safety concern.⁷ If the Regional Administrative Remedy Coordinator agrees, the request is accepted there. If not, you are told in writing and can file locally with the warden, who must grant a reasonable time extension.

Sexual Abuse Grievances

Allegations of sexual abuse have no filing time limit and require no informal resolution attempt. The BOP must issue a final decision on the merits within 90 days of the initial filing, with a possible extension of up to 70 additional days.³ Third parties, including family members, attorneys, and other inmates, can file these grievances on behalf of a victim, though the facility may require the alleged victim to agree and personally handle any appeal steps.

Emergency Grievances

Where there is a substantial risk of imminent sexual abuse, mark the grievance “Emergency” with a written explanation of the urgency. If the Administrative Remedy Coordinator agrees, the initial response is due within 48 hours and a final agency decision within five calendar days.³ For BP-10 and BP-11 appeals in emergency cases, the BOP is directed to make best efforts to respond within five calendar days.

Direct Filing With the General Counsel

A few narrow situations let you file directly with the General Counsel and skip the lower levels. These include appeals related to Executive Panel Reviews of Control Unit placement and appeals of the Regional Director’s review of controlled housing status placement.⁷ When the initial decision did not originate with the warden or institution staff, the grievance can be filed with whichever BOP office made that decision and then appealed directly to the General Counsel.

1
eCFR. 28 CFR 542.15 – Appeals
2
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Central Office
3
Federal Bureau of Prisons. Program Statement 1330.18 – Administrative Remedy Program
4
eCFR. 28 CFR Part 542 – Administrative Remedy
5
eCFR. 28 CFR 542.18 – Response Time
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 1997e – Suits by Prisoners
7
eCFR. 28 CFR 542.14 – Initial Filing