Ethics

Another Case of Forced Religious Rehab

By Ed Brayton

And this time it involves a reader of this blog, Barry Hazle. Hazle was arrested on drug possession charges and after spending a year in jail, he was required as a condition of probation to attend a 90 day residential drug rehab program. He was assigned to Empire Recovery Center, which uses a 12 step program that includes religion. Hazle is an atheist.

He objected to being placed in a religious rehab program and asked the state officials and his parole officer to assign him to a secular rehab center instead. He was denied. They told him that all of the rehab programs in Northern California are such 12 step programs. He filed an official appeal citing court rulings on the unconstitutionality of his rehab, but his parole officer placed him under arrest for violating his parole by refusing the residential treatment program.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on September 30, 2008 (boomark / email).