Robert Lee Brock, a prisoner at the Indian Creek Correctional Center in Chesapeake, filed a handwritten, seven-page lawsuit last month in federal court.

"I partook of alcoholic beverages in 1993, July 1st, as a result I caused myself to violate my religious beliefs. This was done by my going out and getting arrested,'' wrote Brock, who is serving 23 years for breaking and entering and grand larceny.

"I want to pay myself 5 million dollars,'' he continued, "but ask the state to pay it in my behalf since I can't work and am a ward of the state.''

Judge Rebecca Beach Smith was unimpressed by Brock's ingenuity. She dismissed the lawsuit Thursday as frivolous.

"Plaintiff has presented an innovative approach to civil rights litigation,'' Smith wrote. ``However, his claim and especially the relief sought are totally ludicrous.''