Constitutional Law-Civil Rights-Solitary Confinement of Prisoner’s Based on Religious Belief

Plaintiff prisoner brought an action in a federal district court under the Civil Rights Act to enjoin the defendant, a New York state prison warden, from further subjecting him to solitary confinement because of his religious beliefs. The district court refused to take jurisdiction on the ground that solitary confinement involved state prison discipline which was reviewable only in state courts. On appeal, held, reversed, one judge dissenting. A complaint by a prisoner against a state prison official which charges violation of a “preferred freedom” by religious persecution states a claim under the Civil Rights Act which the district court must entertain. Pierce v. LaVallee, 293 F.2d 233 (2d Cir. 1961).