A judge heard arguments in a lawsuit brought by an agnostic former prison inmate who says she was kept incarcerated for several extra weeks because she refused to take part in a prayer circle.
Laurel Clanton filed suit in December 2001 against the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office and the agency that ran her prison drug rehab program, claiming she was punished for refusing to participate in prayers.
"Laurel Clanton's claim isn't that nobody in this group should be allowed to pray, it's that she should be allowed to step aside," said her attorney, Gray Thomas.
Lawyers for the city and the agency, River Region, counter that Clanton wasn't ordered to pray but merely had to remain in the circle while another inmate gave a closing message. They presented a motion Friday in federal court asking the judge to rule in their favor.
"She wasn't forced to pray," city attorney Scott Makar said. "The government wasn't injecting any religion into the program. Merely being subjected to someone else's religious speech isn't a violation."
Clanton was placed under house arrest in 1998 for fraudulently obtaining prescription drugs; she was sentenced to a year in prison in 2000 when she violated the terms of her house arrest.