Brown v. Peyton

Plaintiff, an inmate of the Virginia state prison who professes adherence to the Islamic, or Black Muslim, faith, filed a complaint against prison officials alleging that he had been denied permission to subscribe to the newspaper Muhammad Speaks, to purchase the book Message to the Blackman in America by Elijah Muhammad, to order Islamic buttons and emblems and an Arabic dictionary and grammar, and to hold prayer meetings together with other members of the Islamic sect. He sued for injunctive relief under 42 U.S.C.A. § 1983 and for damages, apparently under the Federal Tort Claims Act, 28 U.S.C.A. § 1346 et seq.