TAMPA, Florida — A college student who told police that a man raped her was jailed for two days for a previous incident and was denied a dose of a morning-after pill while in jail, her attorney said.Police officers helping the 21-year-old woman search for her attacker jailed her after finding that she failed to pay back money she owed after a 2003 theft arrest.

A jail worker later refused to give her a second dose of a morning-after pill to prevent pregnancy because of religious convictions, said Vic Moore, the college student’s attorney.

She was released from jail Monday only after Moore went to the local media.

“Shocked. Stunned. Outraged. I don’t have words to describe it,” Moore said yesterday of his client’s arrest and treatment in jail. “She is not a victim of any one person. She is a victim of the system.”

Tampa police said yesterday they were changing their policy to give officers more discretion on when to arrest a crime victim who has outstanding warrants.

“Obviously, any policy that allows a sexual battery victim to spend a night in jail is a flawed policy,” police spokeswoman Laura McElroy said. “So our city attorney is writing a new policy right now.”

Hillsborough County jail officials did not immediately return a phone message seeking comment yesterday.

The woman is not being named by The Associated Press because she reported being the victim of a sex crime.

The woman told police she was walking alone to her car after a Tampa street celebration when a man pulled her behind a downtown building and raped her, McElroy said.

Responding officers took her to a rape crisis centre, where she was given a medical exam and the first of two doses of a morning-after pill, McElroy said. The second dose is supposed to be taken within 24 hours.

She was riding in a patrol car trying to locate the crime scene in the dark when a police check revealed an outstanding warrant, stemming from a 2003 juvenile arrest for grand theft and burglary. It said she owed $4,585 in restitution.

Moore said the woman was allowed to take the second emergency contraceptive pill Monday afternoon, a day late, and then only after reporters started calling police and jail officials. Authorities then arranged a special emergency bond hearing on Monday afternoon.