Fact: Barry A. Hazle Jr, a 41 year old Redding computer technician had served a year in prison on a drug charge. After he was released, his parole agent sent him back to prison for being an atheist.
For his release, he was given a condition that he is ordered to attend a 90-day, inpatient drug treatment program. Hazle agreed to the program but prior before his release, he told prison officials that he wanted to be sent to a "treatment facility that did not contain religious components", as was stated in the Federal Court papers. However, he was assigned to the Empire Recovery Center in Redding which is a 12-step program pioneered by Alcoholics Anonymous and includes a strong religious overtone.
Mitch Crofoot, Hazle's parole agent of that time, instructed Hazle that "he should continue to participate in the Empire program or he would be returned to prison". He kept attending the program but also persisted in objecting to the arrangement and with a written appeal presented to Crofoot on 3 April 2007. Three days later, Empire workers told Crofoot that Hazle had "been disruptive, though in a congenial way," according to court papers.
Held: Hazle sued officials with the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation in September 2008. Six weeks after that, the department issued a directive stating that parole agents " can not compel a parolee" to partake in a religious-themed programs if the parolee objects on religious grounds and they should be referred to nonreligious programs, citing an opinion issued "Sept. 7, 2007, by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."
Link:
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/04/17/2685285/judge-backs-redding-atheist-who.html
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