DENVER – The ACLU of Colorado is pleased to announce that Senator Mark Udall and civil rights activist Nita Gonzales have been selected to receive our 2015 Civil Rights Awards, which will be presented at the annual Carle Whitehead Bill of Rights Dinner on Thursday, October 8th at the Four Seasons Hotel in Denver.
Senator Udall will receive the Carle Whitehead Memorial Award in recognition of his accomplishments as a legislator in advancing and defending civil rights and civil liberties.
Nita Gonzales will receive the Ralph Carr Award recognizing her leadership and dedication in the struggle for social justice and racial equality.
Udall represented Colorado in the U.S. Congress for 16 years, including as a Member of the Senate from 2009 through 2015, where he was a staunch defender of the Bill of Rights and the civil liberties of all Americans. He led the bipartisan effort to rein in the National Security Administration’s dragnet collection of personal information and data, and he was one of the leading advocates for the public release of the Senate Intelligence Committee’s study on the CIA’s brutal and ineffective detention and interrogation program.
“While others around him worked to increase surveillance and government intrusion, Senator Mark Udall led in Congress from a fundamental belief that Americans should never be asked to sacrifice their basic freedoms in the name of security,” said ACLU of Colorado Executive Director Nathan Woodliff-Stanley. “We are extremely proud to honor Senator Udall as one of our country’s most ardent protectors of individual freedom and liberty.”
Gonzales is a nationally-recognized leader, educator, and community activist. She is President and CEO of Escuela Tlatelolco Centro de Estudios, an internationally-renowned model for Chicano/Mexicano and indigenous education located in Denver. Escuela Tlatelolco provides culturally competent and socially conscious education to predominantly Latino youth. Gonzales also has a long record of supporting causes and organizations that promote the economic, political, social, and educational strength of Latinos and underserved populations in Colorado and throughout the country.
“Countless community activists of all ages have been directly influenced by the dynamic social justice advocacy of Nita Gonzales,” said ACLU of Colorado Public Policy Director Denise Maes. “It is our honor to recognize Nita as an educator and a leader who has dedicated her life to strengthening and empowering her community.”
The Carle Whitehead Bill of Rights Dinner will feature a keynote presentation from Alex Abdo, an ACLU Staff Attorney in the Speech, Privacy and Technology Project who last year argued a successful challenge to the NSA’s phone-records program in Federal Court.
We would like to also announce and thank our Presenting Sponsors Brad Feld and Amy Batchelor and our Circle of Liberty Sponsors Killmer, Lane & Newman, LLP.
For more information about the event, purchasing tickets, or becoming a sponsor, please contact Rachel Pryor-Lease at 720-402-3105 or [email protected].

DENVER – The Wheat Ridge Municipal Court violated a recently-enacted Colorado law banning debtor’s prison practices by sentencing a homeless man to jail because he could not pay a fine, according to a filing this morning by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado.
Wilburn Taylor was cited for panhandling when a Wheat Ridge police officer found him with a blank cardboard and a pen, intending to make a sign requesting charity from passing motorists.   Taylor appeared before Municipal Court Judge Christopher Randall, pleaded guilty and was assessed a $100 fine. He explained to the court that he was destitute, jobless, and could not pay. Despite that, Judge Randall told Taylor that he would have to pay the fine by a specific date or a warrant would issue for his arrest.
Over the following months, Taylor, who remained homeless and destitute, was arrested and brought to court two more times, with the debt increasing each time. Finally, after the debt had nearly tripled to $275, Judge Randall cited Taylor for “contempt of court” for failing to pay and sentenced him to three days in jail.
“Mr. Taylor was wrongly found in contempt of court for failing to pay a fine that he could not pay,” said Mark Silverstein, ACLU Legal Director. “Colorado law is clear: a conviction for contempt is appropriate only if a defendant has the ability to pay and willfully refuses to do so. In this case, Judge Randall found our client guilty of contempt and sentenced him to jail without any inquiry into his ability to pay. Indeed, the record showed that our client was homeless, unemployed, impoverished, and had no means to pay the fine.”
The Supreme Court has long held that it is unconstitutional to jail an individual for failing to pay a debt that he is too poor to pay. Nevertheless, a 2013 ACLU of Colorado investigation revealed that municipal courts around the state were regularly doing just that. During the 2014 legislative session, in response to the ACLU investigation, the Colorado legislature overwhelmingly passed HB 14-1061, a new state law that mandates due process protections to prevent courts from jailing individuals who cannot pay court fines and fees.
According to the ACLU’s motion, which was filed in the Wheat Ridge Municipal Court by ACLU Cooperating Attorney Ty Gee, the court violated several provisions of the Colorado statute as well as the Constitution, and, therefore, Taylor’s conviction for contempt of court should be vacated.
Resources:
Read the ACLU filing, which includes transcripts from Wilburn Taylor’s court appearances: http://static.aclu-co.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/2015-08-25-Mot-to-Vacate-Judgment.pdf
Read Colorado Legislature Approves Ban on Debtors’ Prisons.
Learn more about the 2013 ACLU of Colorado investigation into debtor’s prison practices in Colorado: https://aclu-co.org/court-cases/debtors-prisons/
Visit the ACLU of Colorado’s End Debtor’s Prisons Campaign Page: https://aclu-co.org/campaigns/end-debtors-prisons/

8/24/15
DENVER – This afternoon, the Colorado Springs City Council will discuss a new proposal that would criminalize “sitting, kneeling, reclining or lying down” in various places, including on planters, sidewalks, and curbs, throughout downtown.

ACLU of Colorado Executive Director Nathan Woodliff-Stanley issued the following statement:

“The ACLU of Colorado strongly opposes the proposed ‘sit-lie’ ordinance in Colorado Springs. Sitting innocently on a planter that appears designed for that purpose is not a threat to public safety. It is an absurd government overreach to make it a crime worthy of a $2500 fine and six months in jail to sit, kneel, or lie down in a public place.
“This ordinance is clearly being proposed to give police another tool of selective enforcement to target, harass, and displace people who are homeless or living in poverty. Public spaces are more than just right-of-ways for shoppers and consumers. Courts have long recognized the importance of public streets and sidewalks as forums for free speech and peaceable assembly, and this ordinance would infringe on those fundamental rights.
“Rather than spending taxpayer dollars to criminalize peaceful conduct, Mayor Suthers and the Colorado Springs City Council should focus their attention on addressing the root causes of poverty and homelessness and on fixing well-established problems of racial bias and use of force in the police department.“
Resources:

Read Colorado Communities are Making it a Crime to be Homeless.
Visit the ACLU of Colorado Criminalization of Homelessness campaign page.