damages in equity. Whether treated primarily as a claim for injunctive relief or as one primarily for declaratory relief, it appears that the action should be dismissed without prejudice to petitioners’ pursuing their available and adequate state remedies. If it is assumed that the claim is primarily one for injunctive relief in the form of an order prohibiting respondents from any further acts of cruel and unusual punishment, the principles set down in Potwora v. Dillon (C.A.2) 386 F.2d 74, and James v. Headley (C.A.5) 410 F.2d 325 apply. In Potwora v. Dillon, supra, even under the rule of Monroe v. Pape, 365 U.S. 167, 81 S.Ct. 473, 5 L.Ed.2d 492 (that, generally, suits under the Federal Civil Rights Act are not subject to the doctrine of “exhaustion of state remedies”) it was held that suits for injunction should not be sustained in courts of the United States where a plain, adequate and complete remedy may be had at law. In that case, the Court stated:
“Monroe v. Pape was an action for damages and * must be read in that light; the Court surely had no intention to abrogate in civil rights cases the historic rule, embodied long ago in § 16 of the First Judiciary Act, 1 Stat. 82 (1789), and later in Rev. Stat. § 723 and 28 U.S.C. § 384 (1940 ed.) that suits in equity shall not be sustained in courts of the United States ‘in any case where a plain, adequate and complete remedy may be had at law.’ ” 386 F.2d at 77.
An adequate remedy at law exists in the federal courts by which a prisoner may seek immediate, extraordinary relief in a petition for habeas corpus under the provisions of Section 2254, Title 28, United States Code. Habeas corpus, in federal courts, is a proper method by which a prisoner may seek emergency relief relative to the conditions of his confinement. Black v. Ciccone (W.D. Mo.) 324 F.Supp. 129, and eases therein cited. Under such circumstances, in James v. Headley, supra, the Court stated that “It is basic learning that a court will not grant equitable relief if there is an adequate remedy at law.” 410 F.2d at 335. The Court upheld the district court’s accordingly transforming a petition for injunctive relief under Section 1983 into a simple habeas proceeding.
The result is not different if this action is treated as primarily one in equity for a declaratory judgment. Under Rule 57, F.R.Civ.P., the “existence of another adequate remedy does not preclude a judgment for declaratory relief in cases where it is appropriate.” But in Katzenbach v. McClung, 379 U.S. 294, 85 S.Ct. 377, 13 L.Ed.2d 290, it was noted that:
“[E]ven though Rule 57 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits declaratory relief although another adequate remedy exists, it should not be granted where a special statutory proceeding has been provided. See Notes on Rule 57 of Advisory Committee on Rules, 28 U.S.C.App. p. 5178 (1958 ed.). Title II provides for such a statutory proceeding for the determination of rights and duties arising thereunder, §§ 204-207, and courts should, therefore, ordinarily refrain from exercising their jurisdiction in such cases.” 85 S.Ct. at 379, 13 L. Ed.2d at 293.
Under the provisions of Section 2254, supra, and its subsection (c), dealing with the principle of exhaustion of state remedies, complete statutory remedies exist by which petitioners may seek in equity and, upon an appropriate showing, obtain the relief in equity which is sought in the complaint herein. As the United States Court of Appeals for 'he Eighth Circuit recently stated in Wilwording v. Swenson (C.A.8) 439 F.2d 1331:
“[W]e think petitioners should respect Missouri rules of procedure and make an effort to fully present their claims for equitable relief to the Missouri courts by mandamus or prohibition for the claimed violations of §§ 216.455 [prohibiting the striking of prisoners], 216.450 [prohibiting the administration of cruel and unusual