State-based Campaigns to Significantly Reduce Prison Population Will Focus on Presidential Battleground States

November 7, 2014
NEW YORK – The Open Society Foundations today awarded a grant of $50 million to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in support of its nationwide campaign to end mass incarceration. The campaign seeks to reform criminal justice policies that have increased incarceration rates dramatically during a period of declining crime –and exacerbated racial disparities. The nation's adult jail and prison population numbers over 2.2 million with one in 100 adults behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world. The ACLU intends to cut that number in half by 2020, with the most ambitious effort to end mass incarceration in American history.
"Reducing our nation's prison population by 50 percent may sound like a lofty goal. But Americans are recognizing that we can't arrest our way out of every social problem and, in fact, the overuse of our criminal justice system has been making matters worse," said ACLU Executive Director Anthony D. Romero. "Elected officials on both sides of the aisle now see clearly the disastrous results of the 'tough on crime' politics of the 80s and 90s. The ACLU is partnering with allies across the entire political spectrum to take a new approach and get the work done."
"There are few organizations in the United States in such close alignment with our values and criminal justice reform goals as the ACLU," said Christopher Stone, President of the Open Society Foundations. "We are confident that our support of the already advanced state-level ACLU operations can truly transform thinking about public safety, move progressive and innovative legislation forward, and restore the trust of communities hit hardest by the overuse and abuse of our criminal justice system."
While the ACLU's most impactful work has typically been through litigation, this campaign signals a sea change for an organization with more than one million members and supporters, staffed state-based affiliates, and formidable legal muscle. It will build on the momentum created by state and national advocates, and on the analysis of the National Academy of Sciences, which found that in order to significantly lower prison rates, drug enforcement and sentencing laws should be revised. And, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has strongly endorsed reduced sentences for certain non-violent drug offenses, which would cut average sentences for federal drug offenses by 11 months.
In accepting the grant from OSF, Romero outlined immediate next steps the ACLU will take:

• Bring transparency to the current crisis by assembling and disclosing state and local data around who is behind bars, for how long, and for what offenses
• Select 3 to 5 key states for 2016 action – those with the largest prison populations, most egregious sentencing, and a history of playing a consequential role in the election of the next president
• Build state capacity in early primary and battleground states such as Florida, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Colorado.

The announcement of increased funding for mass incarceration reform comes just days after a ballot measure – Proposition 47 – passed by an overwhelming 58% majority in California. The measure, which the ACLU aided with a $3.5 million investment, lowers personal drug use and small-scale property crimes from felonies to misdemeanors, and distributes the criminal justice savings to substance abuse and mental health treatment, anti-truancy programs, and victims' services. Approximately 15,000 to 20,000 people will likely be eligible for re-sentencing and release from either state prison or county jail.
Former speaker of the House of Representatives Newt Gingrich, Senator Rand Paul, and California businessman B. Wayne Hughes, Jr. also supported Prop. 47. The ACLU intends to tap into this type of bipartisan support with its broader campaign against mass incarceration, using this donation as a primer for increased political action on both the state and national level.
Romero also announced that Alison Holcomb, architect of the ACLU of Washington's marijuana legislation, who directed the statewide campaign to pass it, will serve as the national director of the ACLU Campaign to End Mass Incarceration. Holcomb was also involved in the state legislature's passage of a 911 Good Samaritan drug overdose prevention bill and the launch of Seattle and King County's innovative pre-booking diversion program, Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD).
"We've had 40 years of widening the criminal justice net too far and have relied too heavily on punishment to address social and health problems," Holcomb said. "We've drained coffers and cut people off from jobs, housing, and family stability – the very things they need to succeed in society."
Romero concludes: "This exceptionally generous grant from the Open Society Foundations allows us and our partners to break the cycle that has destroyed families and devastated communities, by righting this source of injustice and ending mass incarceration."
For more information on ACLU's Campaign to End Mass Incarceration, go to:https://www.aclu.org/smart-justice-fair-justice

Effort To Ban Abortions and Restrict Contraception Defeated for the Third Time

 11/4/14
DENVER - The voters of Colorado have rejected – for the third time since 2008 – a far-reaching constitutional amendment designed to ban all abortions in Colorado, including in cases of rape, incest and when the health of the mother is at risk. Amendment 67 would have gone so far as to restrict access to commonly used forms of birth control, including the Pill and IUDs -- and ban in-vitro fertilization for infertile couples who are hoping to have families.
“We’re thrilled that the voters of Colorado were able to, once again, see through the very deceptive ballot language of Amendment 67 and reject it outright,” said Fofi Mendez, campaign director of the Vote NO 67 Campaign. “Once again, Colorado has made it clear that issues surrounding women’s healthcare are personal, private decisions, and not those of the government, courts and lawyers.”
The Vote NO 67 Campaign is comprised of a broad-based, nonpartisan coalition of doctors, nurses, other medical professionals, attorneys, civil libertarians, Latina, African-American, Asian-American organizations, and dozens of community groups. Since the Vote NO 67 Campaign launched in July, more than 75 organizations signed on in formal support, ranging from the Colorado Bar Association to the Colorado Medical Society to the El Paso County Libertarian Party. Nineteen newspapers editorialized against the measure.
No news organization supported Amendment 67, which was sponsored by Personhood USA and Colorado Right To Life. Those groups sponsored similar constitutional amendments in 2008 and 2010, which were overwhelmingly defeated.
If passed, Amendment 67 would have expanded the term “person” in the Colorado Constitution to include “unborn human being” – which has no established legal or medical definition. Attorneys, medical professionals and others noted the result would have criminalized women and their doctors.
“The voters have said, again, they believe women should make their own healthcare decisions,” said Vicki Cowart, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains. “Coloradans believe that women should be free to make their own decisions about where, when and how to have children. They believe that women should have the ability to use the birth control that works best for them, to be able to use in-vitro fertilization to have children, and to make their own medical decisions when their health is in jeopardy.”
“Colorado voters sent a clear message today that no matter how deceptive the language, personhood initiatives that criminalize women and invite government into their private lives do not match Colorado values and have no place in our laws or our Constitution,” said Nathan Woodliff-Stanley, executive director of the ACLU of Colorado.
Said Cristina Aguilar, executive director of COLOR (Colorado Organization for Latina for Opportunity & Reproductive Rights): “Amendment 67 would have threatened our ability as women and Latinas to make important choices about our health care, including when and how to start a family. These decisions are best left for a woman to make with her family, her doctors and her faith.”
"Colorado voters have a longstanding, mainstream belief in supporting abortion rights and reproductive health care, and we saw that belief in action with the defeat of Amendment 67, said Karen Middleton, President of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado. “NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado members and supporters played an important role in letting voters know about this deceptive, dangerous amendment. We hope those behind Amendment 67 have learned once again that they are on the wrong side of Colorado voters and values and take NO for an answer."
Said Cowart, of Planned Parenthood, “These groups should respect the values of Colorado voters and stop trying to force their political agenda on us. We will continue to fight this fight because we know Colorado women and families deserve access to the reproductive health care services they need.  With the money we invested to defeat this campaign, we could have provided additional services to thousands of women and families in Colorado. But, we advocate for women both inside our health centers as well as in the public arena.”

The ACLU of Colorado staff has grown again! Jayme Kritzler recently came on board as our Economic Justice Fellow, a brand-new position that was made possible through a generous gift by one of our supporters. During her year-long fellowship, Jayme will dedicate her time to work around the intersection of poverty, inequality, and civil liberties  in Colorado. Join us in welcoming Jayme to the ACLU of Colorado team!
More about Jayme:

Jayme graduated from the University of California, Davis in June 2014 with a degree in Community and Regional Development. As the 2014-2015 Economic Justice Fellow at the ACLU of Colorado, Jayme primarily investigates the inequities poor individuals face in Colorado’s criminal justice system to provide the basis for legislation, advocacy, litigation, and public education. While at UC Davis, Jayme had internships that related to social justice issues such as inner-city food insecurity and affordable housing. She also taught English language development to elementary-aged students at a public school and tutored at the Yolo County Juvenile Detention Facility. Jayme is absolutely thrilled to be at the ACLU. As a born-and-bred Californian, she can’t wait to explore the beautiful state of Colorado.