Louie L. Wainwright, Director, Division of Corrections, State of Florida v. Willis G. Coonts

Petitioner is an inmate in a Florida prison. He was transferred to the maximum security section of the Raiford State Penitentiary and placed in solitary confinement for violation of a prison regulation prohibiting prisoners from assisting other inmates in the preparation of writs and legal papers. Petitioner filed a petition in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in which he attacked the validity of the prison regulation and sought an order requiring law books to be furnished to the prisoners. Pursuant to petitioner’s request for release from solitary…