The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Mass incarceration costs taxpayers billions, and destroys families and livelihoods, without leaving any room for rehabilitation, healing or second chances. Releasing people from a broken prison system is a first step we can take to end racial disparities, reunite families, build safer communities and save thousands of lives during the pandemic. We need you to take action.

Join the ACLU to learn about the Redemption Campaign as we discuss the prison system and our legacy of mass incarceration. Then, help us build a safer, more just future for Colorado by writing to Governor Polis urging him to safely release people from prison through the power of clemency. This is an opportunity hear from family members whose loved ones are incarcerated in state prisons, to ask questions about Colorado’s criminal legal system and to defend civil liberties for all Coloradans.
This event is virtual and free to the public.

Time: January 19, 2021 at 12:00pm
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Tuesday, January 19, 2021 (All day)

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Tuesday, January 19, 2021 - 12:00am

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On November 21, 2016, 13 Aurora police officers responded to a simple noise complaint at Alberto Torres's home. As happens all too often, Aurora police officers escalated this minor issue into a brutal affair. They beat Mr. Torres solely because he delayed exiting his garage to ask his wife to interpret for him. With that beating, the lives of Mr. Torres and every member of his family were changed and he has yet to recover. ACLU of Colorado fought to obtain justice for Mr. Torres, and Aurora has now paid him $285,000. But money is not justice, and the brutality of the Aurora Police Department against people of color has continued unabated.

It doesn't have to be this way.

Imagine, if instead of 13 officers being dispatched to Mr. Torres's home for a noise complaint, the City of Aurora sent a civilian-led response team to check on his welfare and ask that he and his friends lower their sound, resulting in a non-violent solution to a minor issue?

"ACLU Settles Case With Aurora After Police Brutalize and Unlawfully Arrest Alberto Torres," ACLU News Release, December 10, 2020

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Thursday, December 10, 2020 - 11:15am

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