struts2 result param not working

Question

I am trying to figure out what is going on here...

I have an action class with the standard getters/setters and lets say i have one for a property called 'category'.

in my result mapping for the action in the struts.xml file, i am trying to add the value of this property to the URL for an action redirect.

in my action class, i can set the category property to the value of "SOME THING", and in my config file i have:

  <result name="updated" type="redirectAction">
<param name="actionName">animalShelter</param>
<param name="portletMode">view</param>
<param name="category">${category}</param>

and my URL always ends up with a parameter of value "SOME%2BTHING". this inturn causes my subsequent behavior to be invalid.

is there a reason why the encoding is taking place and can i stop it? also, if it is going to encode, cannot it be told to use the proper thing for a space like "+" or "%20"??