Prock v. District Court of Pittsburg County

OP ALA, Justice:

The issues to be answered in this proceeding are: [1] Did the trial curt err in declining to assume jurisdiction of a prisoner’s petition alleging denial of certain federally-protected liberty interests by prison authorities acting in contravention of state-fashioned internal prison discipline rules? [2] Are the prisoner’s allegations sufficient to raise constitutionally-cognizable claims to an administrative prison discipline hearing?

We hold that (a) access to district court must be accorded, of right, to a prisoner who asserts a federally-protected claim to a prison…