Tamper-evident grievance records · PLRA exhaustion defense · Built for county jails
The product

A grievance workflow built for the people who get sued, not just the ones who file.

Custos replaces paper kites with a defensible digital record — capturing intake, triaging severity, enforcing statutory deadlines, and sealing every action into a tamper-evident log.

01 · Capture

Digital intake from any device — with PREA routing built in.

Incarcerated people file kites, sick-call requests, and grievances from existing tablets or in-pod kiosks. Custos is hardware-agnostic, so you don't replace what you already have.

  • Off-unit PREA routing per §115.52 — a complaint never goes through the person it names.
  • Multilingual, low-literacy-friendly intake with structured categories.
  • Every submission timestamped and hash-sealed the moment it's filed.

Intake form

Category · Medical / Sick-call
“I've asked twice for my blood pressure medication…”
Confidential PREA report Off-unit route

AI triage output

Type classificationMedical · PREA
Urgency URGENT
Statutory deadline48h initial · 90d final
Routed toShift Sgt. (off-unit)
02 · Triage

AI sorts severity so nothing urgent waits in a stack.

Every entry is classified by type and urgency the instant it lands. Medical and PREA flags escalate immediately; routine requests queue with their clock running.

  • Severity classification: medical, PREA, Section 1983, general.
  • Human-in-the-loop — staff confirm or override; the override is logged too.
  • Emergent items push to staff instead of waiting for someone to check a folder.
03 · Deadlines

The statutory clock runs itself.

Custos maps each grievance to the response deadline that governs your facility and counts down automatically — so an SLA breach is a flag on a dashboard, not a finding in an audit.

TX TCJS §283.3

15d interim · 60d final

CA Title 15 §1073

15 calendar days

PREA §115.52

48h emergency · 90d final

FL Model Jail Std.

Documented + annual review

04 · Defend

A tamper-evident log you can hand to counsel.

Intake, triage, routing, responses, and resolution are hash-chained into an append-only record. Nothing is edited in place; nothing disappears. When discovery hits, export a complete chain of custody for any person or date range.

  • Append-only, hash-chained entries with full audit trail.
  • One-click exhaustion / PREA / ACA export packets.
  • Retention policies that match your state schedule (3–7 yrs).

Everything in the platform

Built for the workflow, not just the filing.

Command dashboard

Open, overdue, and at-risk grievances at a glance, filtered by urgency, type, or unit.

Escalation alerts

Automatic notifications as deadlines approach so nothing ages out silently.

JMS roster sync

Standard API connection to your jail management system — bookings and releases stay current.

Pattern analytics

Spot recurring complaint types, units, or shifts before they become a lawsuit or audit finding.

Role-based access

Counsel, command staff, and line officers each see exactly what their role allows — every view logged.

Discovery exports

Counsel-ready PDF/CSV packets with full chain of custody, generated on demand.

Want to see it on your own grievance data?

We'll stand up a pilot in one facility and show you the record a jury would see.

Request a pilot