SPRING LAKE — A New York City activist fined for baring her breasts on a Spring Lake beach in 2008 has decided that jail time and hunger are preferable to paying court-ordered penalties, according to one of the woman's associates.

Phoenix Feeley, whose case against Spring Lake's anti-nudity ordinance stopped at the New Jersey Supreme Court last year, surrendered to authorities today and has vowed to go on a hunger strike during her stay at the Monmouth County jail in Freehold, said Nadine Gary, president of GoTopless.org, a group that has been championing the activist since her arrest.

“We’re speaking about something symbolic,” Gary said. “It’s a battle for all women in the U.S.”

Feeley, a 33-year-old artist, was arrested twice in 2008 while sunbathing in Spring Lake. Police said officers gave her a shirt while she was being booked the first time, but Feeley left it behind when she was released. She was detained again later that day.

Authorities charged her with violating an ordinance banning public nudity. Feeley argued that going topless was not the same as going nude, and that women, like men, should be able to bare their chests in public.

The state appellate court ruled against her, and Gary said the state Supreme Court refused to hear the case last year. Feeley and her associates have been reaching out to the U.S. Supreme Court but aren't sure if the court will hear the case, Gary said.

Cynthia Scott, spokeswoman for Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden, declined to comment on Feeley’s hunger strike, but said any inmate who refuses to eat is “monitored closely” by the jail’s medical staff.

It wasn’t immediately clear how long Feeley may be behind bars. She is being told to pay about $2,500 in fines, according to Gary.

Meanwhile, GoTopless plans several protests on Aug. 25 in support of Feeley and the topless movement.

Star-Ledger staff writer Christopher Baxter contributed to this report.

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