This section contains the nature of the case and procedural background.

P is an inmate at the Nebraska Penal and Correctional Complex. P ordered by mail certain hobby materials valued at $23.50. P paid for the hobby materials he ordered with two drafts drawn on his inmate account by prison officials. The packages arrived at the complex and were signed for by two employees who worked in the prison hobby center. One of the employees was a civilian and the other was an inmate. D was in segregation at the time and was not permitted to have the hobby materials. Procedures for the handling of mail packages are that upon arrival they are either delivered to the prisoner who signs a receipt for the package or the prisoner is notified to pick up the package and to sign a receipt. No inmate other than the one to whom the package is addressed is supposed to sign for a package. After being released from segregation, P contacted several prison officials for the whereabouts of his packages. The officials were never able to locate the packages or to determine what caused their disappearance. P chose to proceed in the United States District Court under 28 U. S. C. § 1343 and 42 U. S. C. §1983, even though the State of Nebraska had a tort claims procedure that provided a remedy to persons who suffered tortious losses at the hands of the State. P claimed that his property was negligently lost by prison officials in violation of his rights under the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. P claimed that he had been deprived of property without due process of law. The District Court entered summary judgment for P, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit affirmed. D appealed.

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