The immutable system of record for jail grievances.
Custos captures every kite, sick-call request, and PREA complaint as an AI-triaged, tamper-evident record — so a “you destroyed my grievance” claim goes back to summary judgment instead of a jury.
The paper problem
A lost paper kite is now a jury question.
Most county jails still run grievances on triplicate paper. When a complaint goes missing, the county can no longer prove what was filed — and the courts have stopped giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Perttu v. Richards (2025)
The Supreme Court held that when officers are accused of destroying grievances, PLRA exhaustion goes to a jury — not summary judgment. Missing paper is now the plaintiff's best evidence.
Audits hinge on the record
PREA §115.52 and ACA reaccreditation both turn on documented, on-time grievance handling. Gaps in the paper trail are where audits — and renewals — fail.
Discovery eats clerk time
When a §1983 claim lands, a records clerk can lose 40+ hours reconstructing a file from cabinets. With Custos it's a filtered export in minutes.
Sources: Perttu v. Richards, 605 U.S. (2025); Ross v. Blake, 578 U.S. (2016); PREA Resource Center Standard 115.52. Custos is software, not legal advice — your counsel validates fit for your contracts and jurisdiction.
The Custos thesis
A record that can't be altered flips the case back in your favor.
When every grievance is captured digitally, timestamped, and written to a tamper-evident log, the “the officer threw it away” theory collapses. The county can show exactly what was filed, when, who saw it, and how it was resolved — turning a jury fight back into a summary-judgment win.
- Every entry hash-chained and timestamped at intake — no silent edits, no deletions.
- Full chain of custody: who opened it, who triaged it, every status change.
- One-click exhaustion packet for county counsel and outside defense.
“Requested medical attention twice for chest pain. No response. Need to speak to someone not on this unit.”
Filed
Apr 12, 2026 · 14:02
SLA clock
Response due in 13d
14:02 Intake captured · hash a91f…3d7
14:02 AI triage → URGENT / Medical / PREA route
14:18 Routed to shift sergeant (off-unit, per §115.52)
How Custos works
Intake to defensible record, automatically.
Capture
Incarcerated people file kites and grievances from any tablet or kiosk — no app required. Off-unit routing for PREA is built in, so a complaint never goes through the staff member it names.
Triage
AI classifies each entry by type — medical, PREA, Section 1983, general — and urgency, then starts the statutory SLA clock for your state and surfaces what needs eyes today.
Defend
Every action writes to a tamper-evident log. When a claim or audit arrives, export a complete, timestamped chain of custody for that person in minutes.
Who it's for
One record, three stakeholders who all need it.
Sheriffs & jail administrators
Pass PREA and ACA audits without the paper scramble. See what's overdue before it becomes a complaint.
County counsel
Walk into a §1983 case with a clean, immutable exhaustion record instead of a box of forms and a missing-page problem.
Risk pools & JPAs
A fundable loss-control line item that measurably reduces documentation-driven settlement exposure across member counties.
<2%
of federal grievances are granted today — nearly half rejected on procedure, not merits. The paper system isn't working for anyone.
$40K–$107K
estimated annual cost of running paper grievances at a 500-bed jail — labor, retention, audit prep, and allocated litigation risk.
Minutes
to produce a complete, defensible discovery packet — instead of a 40-hour clerk reconstruction.
See your grievance data the way a jury would.
We'll run a 90-day pilot in one facility at no cost, in exchange for a reference. You keep the record either way.
Request a pilot