Category Archives: Criminal Justice

STOP THE SPREAD OF COVID-19 IN COLORADO JAILS AND PRISONS Experts are sounding the alarm of the public health threat that prisons and jails pose during this pandemic. There is a heightened risk of infection for people who are involved in the criminal legal system – people living in it, people working in it, and the communities they return home to. It is not a question of  if  the COVID-19 virus will take hold in Colorado’s prisons and jails; it’s a matter of when. We need everyone's.... | Read More

March 26, 2020 DENVER – ACLU of Colorado called on all Colorado sheriffs to collectively help stop the spread of COVID-19 by safely and swiftly reducing the jail population. In a letter that went out to sheriffs in 52 counties throughout the state, ACLU of Colorado cited the medical necessity of drastically reducing community spread in county jails as a matter of public health and constitutional duty.  “This epidemic has the potential to become the Coming Prison Plague,” Dr. Franco-Paredes,.... | Read More

For more than twenty years, an evolving coalition of victims’ family members, corrections officers, defense attorneys, prosecutors, faith leaders, and civil liberties champions have worked relentlessly to end the death penalty in Colorado. In 2019, following a democratic sweep of both the legislature and the Governor’s office, many thought repeal was inevitable. Unfortunately, the state senate could not bring the bill across the finish line. In response, the ACLU of Colorado launched an ambitious,.... | Read More

DENVER – After a nine month, community-led campaign, hours of emotional testimony and much debate, SB20-100 — the bill to end the death penalty in Colorado — passed its 3rd and final reading in the House. The bill is now headed to the Governor’s desk. Once signed, it will make Colorado the 22nd state to abolish the death penalty in the U.S. “Thanks to the support from faith leaders, death row exonerees, District Attorneys, corrections officers and, most significantly, family members.... | Read More

ACLU of Colorado is deeply saddened by the death of Judd Golden, 70, on January 28, 2020. Judd was killed in a head-on collision on I-25 north of Pueblo when another car crossed the median. A long-time ACLU leader and volunteer, Judd was head of the Boulder Chapter of the ACLU for 20 years and a member of the chapter beginning in 1985. He was a volunteer cooperating attorney with the ACLU of Iowa starting in 1974, and moved to Colorado in 1984 as the Mountain States Counsel, a national ACLU staff.... | Read More

At the Capitol and in a recent op-ed, the Division of Youth Services has reaffirmed its commitment to culture change in DYS facilities. DYS has also put forward a plan to break down Lookout Mountain Youth Services Center into smaller facilities, to allow critical culture change to take root. These are the right steps to ensure safe and effective environments in DYS facilities, including Lookout Mountain. The call for culture change in Colorado’s juvenile facilities has been gaining momentum.... | Read More

DENVER – An ACLU of Colorado report released today highlights 22 stories of families whose loved ones were murdered and why, in the face of such tragedy, they firmly oppose the death penalty. The death penalty is an expensive, ineffective and unjust process that harms victims’ families. Over the course of decades, victims’ families are forced to navigate a complicated legal process and relive the trauma of their loved one’s murder. “There was a trial for the killer’s accomplice that dragged.... | Read More

2020 is here, and this will be a very important year for the ACLU, Colorado and our nation. Here are seven ACLU of Colorado resolutions for the New Year to help guide our work and yours: Bring Our Neighbors Home. The majority of people in Colorado jails are not there because they have been convicted of a crime. The majority are legally innocent and only incarcerated because they can’t afford to pay a monetary bond. As the Colorado legislative session begins this week, the ACLU of Colorado.... | Read More

July 18, 2019 [caption id="attachment_7179" align="alignnone" width="300"] Photo courtesy of The Denver Channel[/caption] FORT COLLINS – A lawsuit filed against the City of Fort Collins by the ACLU of Colorado on behalf of the Fort Collins Mennonite Fellowship is close to resolution, with the parties’ attorneys having agreed on a set of conditions that will allow the Fellowship to provide outdoor storage lockers to individuals experiencing homelessness. The proposed settlement requires approval.... | Read More

We had an ambitious legislative agenda entering into the 2019 session and are happy to announce a series of successes. First, we championed legislation that will fund for the first time in our state's history, comprehensive sex education for schools seeking to adopt such a curriculum. We were able to champion legislation that will bring some relief to our immigrant friends and neighbors and advanced legislation that will reform aspects of our cruel bail system. You made this happen and we thank you.... | Read More