Whitfield v. Department of Corrections

I agree that Appellant, Shannon V. Whitfield, did not timely seek review in the circuit court of the Department’s refusal to accept his appeal as timely. As to whether he timely filed an appeal with the Department from his initial grievance, it is worth noting that in Gonzalez v. State, 604 So.2d 874 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), we explicitly held that the mailbox rule applies to prisoners when they submit internal grievance appeals by U.S. Mail, which is what Whitfield did here. We held:

[ Wjhere an appeal from a grievance procedure must be received by the Department within 15 calendar days of the…