Akbar v. Canney

The appellant is a prisoner in the Southern Ohio Correctional Facility at Lucasville. During his imprisonment he has adopted the Sunni Muslim religious faith and has changed his name from Ronald Scheels to Ali Abdullah Akbar. The prison authorities refused to change their records to reflect his new name and he sought relief in the District Court. His pro se civil rights complaint was dismissed on the theory that there was no legal basis to require the prison officials to change their records when a prisoner chose to change his name.

The complaint also alleged that the prison officials had…