Vignolo

Leonard Vignolo, a Nevada state prisoner, appeals from the district court’s order dismissing his 42 U.S.C. § 1983 action for failure to state a claim. The district court had jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1343 (a)(3). We have jurisdiction over this timely appeal pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 . We reverse the dismissal and remand for further proceedings.

I

The Nevada Department of Prisons has a “fiscal agreement” which governs the financial relationship between certain inmates and the prison. Among other things, that agreement describes how the prison will credit wages to various inmate accounts, and authorizes payroll deductions for taxes, room and board, prison construction, and a victim’s compensation fund. Under institutional procedures in effect until January 10, 1994, an inmate was required to sign a fiscal agreement if he received over eighteen dollars in weekly gross wages from prison employment.

In 1991, Vignolo began working in the law library at Ely State Prison in Ely, Nevada. His salary was twenty dollars a month, and while working he received ten work day credits per month. Because his wages fell below the eighteen dollar per week threshold, he was not required to…