A Colorado man who was on probation and was sent back to jail after he refused to take part in Christian worship has won a significant legal victory.
Americans United, the American Civil Liberties Union and the law firm of DLA Piper LLP (U.S.) announced in June that Mark Janny’s case has been settled and that he has been awarded $100,000 in monetary damages.
The case, Janny v. Gamez, was filed in federal court. The agreement was reached with the Colorado Department of Corrections to settle the case brought against Janny’s parole officer, John Gamez. Gamez violated Janny’s First Amendment religious freedom rights in 2015 when he sent Janny back to jail for refusing to participate in worship services, Bible studies and religious counseling mandated by Gamez.
“This is a victory for Mark Janny and for religious freedom,” said Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United. “Our country’s fundamental principle of church-state separation guarantees that everyone has the right to believe as they choose, so long as they don’t harm others. Jailing someone for refusing to attend worship services and to engage in Bible study is not religious freedom — it’s religious coercion.”
When Janny was on parole in February 2015, Gamez required him to live at the Denver Rescue Mission, a Christian homeless shelter that offers religious programming for parolees and other residents. Gamez had an arrangement with the mission’s director to place parolees there, with the understanding that they would take part in compulsory religious worship and practice.
Janny, an atheist, objected to the mandatory worship services, Bible studies and religious counseling, and he asked to be excused from religious programming or to be permitted to live elsewhere. Gamez and the mission’s staff refused Janny’s request, threatening him with reimprisonment if he did not continue living at the mission and did not agree to participate in the required religious activities.
When Janny ultimately declined to attend worship services, Gamez had him arrested and initiated parole revocation proceedings. As a result, Janny was incarcerated for another five months.
Janny filed a federal lawsuit, asserting violations of his First Amendment rights; he represented himself at the district court level. After the district court wrongly dismissed his case, Americans United, the ACLU and DLA Piper stepped in to represent him in an appeal, which was filed with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in March 2020. In August 2021, the 10th Circuit ruled in Janny’s favor, allowing his case to proceed. In Nov. 2023, the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado ruled that Janny was entitled to seek certain categories of damages, including compensatory damages for the alleged constitutional violations and punitive damages. Prior to the settlement agreement, the case had been scheduled to go to trial in July.
Janny’s appeal and the proceedings on remand have been litigated by Charles Wayne and Nicole Kozlowski of DLA Piper, Alex Luchenitser of Americans United, and Daniel Mach and Heather L. Weaver of the ACLU.