California atheist jailed over objections to faith-based recovery gets $2 million

slimvictor

slimvictor

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California atheist jailed over objections to faith-based recovery gets $2 million settlement

A California atheist convicted of drug possession who was found in violation of his parole and sent back to prison after he objected to a treatment program centered on belief in a higher power has won a nearly $2 million legal settlement, his attorney said on Wednesday.

Barry Hazle Jr., 46, had sued parole officials accusing them of breaching the constitutional separation of church and state, and won the payout after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found last year he was entitled to compensation for time he was unjustly held in prison.

Months of negotiations by his lawyers resulted in a settlement of $1 million from the state and $925,000 from Westcare, a company hired by parole officials to provide drug treatment for convicts. Hazle dropped his suit this week because of the settlement.

The case highlighted atheists' long-standing objections to the faith-based component of 12-step recovery programs originally promoted by Alcoholics Anonymous. California prison officials said the state had since changed its policy to allow convicts who object to a 12-step program to attend a secular program instead.

cont at
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/10/16/us-usa-atheist-california-idUSKCN0I503N20141016
 
Thank you!

Fuck this whole "In God We Trust" shit while proposing the idea we have a seperate church and state

I don't trust this scummy god give me another one
 
I'm not an atheist but I am totally against forcing people into faith-based programs. I just can't help but wonder if that money is going to help fuel a drug addiction tho.
 
^ No, he won a million from the state & then he also won $925K from Westcare. He dropped the suit because he got that money.

& who gives a fuck if he spends his money on drugs? He just spent however long in prison for his beliefs.
 
I'm super jealous. Think of all the people before him that screwed into faith based 12 step style programs but just thought "oh well can't fight city hall" and gave up. It takes massive balls to take on the government like that especially when they hold all the cards as far as retaliation goes.
 
This is a pretty big win although I wish it would have gone to court only to make a further mockery of the Christians that think they have a monopoly on power in the US.
 
I love the fact that the US has 'In God We Trust' on their ten dollar bills, whilst the UK has a portrait of Charles Darwin on their ten pound notes.
 
Rybee said:
I love the fact that the US has 'In God We Trust' on their ten dollar bills, whilst the UK has a portrait of Charles Darwin on their ten pound notes.
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I'd let them keep ''In God We Trust'' on their symbols if they'd catch up with the rest of the world and ditch the imperial measurement units for the metric system.

Although to be fair, even the rest of the world seems to use Imperial when it comes to drugs in quantities between a kilo and a gram. Why is that? Bulk distribution is in kilos, low level distribution is in points or grams, but then they skip up to ounces (or balls/quarters/halves etc) and pounds.
 
crimsonjunk said:
I'm super jealous. Think of all the people before him that screwed into faith based 12 step style programs but just thought "oh well can't fight city hall" and gave up. It takes massive balls to take on the government like that especially when they hold all the cards as far as retaliation goes.
Click to expand...
Couldn't have said it better.
 
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