(CN) - An avowed atheist who was jailed for refusing to participate in
a 12-step treatment program deserves a new trial of his civil rights
claims, the 9th Circuit ruled.
Barry Hazle sued his parole officer, several California
corrections officials and Westcare Corp. after they revoked his
probation for a drug conviction because of his "congenial" refusal to
recognize a higher power, as the 12-step recovery method requires.
Hazle said he told officials several times about his atheism and
reluctance to participate in religious treatment programs after pleading
no-contest in 2006 to possession of methamphetamine. Nonetheless, in
2007 he was paroled to a 90-day residential program that offered only
the 12 Steps, many of which call for explicit acceptance of God.
When he refused to participate, staff reported Hazle to his parole
officer, saying that he was being "disruptive, though in a congenial
way, to the staff as well as other students," according to the ruling.
Hazle then found himself back in prison for another 100 days.
His federal civil rights action sought damages for false
imprisonment, among other things. U.S. District Judge Garland Burrell in
San Francisco found the defendants were indeed liable for depriving
Hazle of his First Amendment rights and turned the issue over to a jury
to determine the amount of damages.
The jury awarded zero damages.
Hazle shot back with a motion for a new trial, but was denied. A
three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit reversed Friday, finding that Hazle
was entitled to something.
"The district judge's finding of liability establishes that Hazle
suffered actual injury when he was unconstitutionally incarcerated,"
Judge Stephen Reinhardt wrote for the court. "Given this undisputed
finding that Hazle's constitutional rights were violated, and applying
the rule that the award of compensatory damages is mandatory when the
existence of actual injury is beyond dispute, we hold that the district
judge erred in refusing to hold that Hazle was, as a matter of law,
entitled to compensatory damages. We therefore reverse the district
judge's denial of Hazle's motion for a new trial."

http://tinyurl.com/p4pmh65

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Ahh, the religious.