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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

  • Hope is a discipline. It’s a commitment that together, we can create a more perfect union. We won’t rest until we fulfill the promise of equal rights for ALL people in the United States.

    Join us in our fight to fulfill this promise and move forward with hope by donating to the ACLU of Colorado. Your donation supports the ACLU’s strengths that make our work effective and collaborative.

    Donate now at https://action.aclu.org/give/support-aclu-colorado

  • Anthony Martinez is 84-years-old and suffering from renal failure, as well as other serious medical conditions including dementia. He is currently incarcerated in the Sterling Correctional Facility, site of one of Colorado’s largest COVID-19 outbreaks with almost 600 active COVID-19 cases. He and his family are understandably terrified that he will catch the virus and die.

    In the midst of this public health crisis, incarcerated people as vulnerable as Anthony, could and should be immediately released to safely live out their remaining years with family.

    Read more about Anthony Martinez and other at-risk incarcerated people. 

  • Ronald Johnson is pre-diabetic, suffers from asthma and high blood pressure, and regularly uses an inhaler to breathe. His age and respiratory ailments put him at risk of serious illness and death if he contracts COVID-19. With over hundreds of active cases in Colorado’s prisons, his family fears he will not make it out alive. His daughter, Amber, says, “In prison, he can’t protect himself and he can’t social distance. My deep fear is that my dad will die in prison. That is an awful, traumatic reality to consider. My chest is tight just thinking about how quickly it spreads and how vulnerable he is.”

    Governor Hickenlooper shortened his sentence following testimony from family, friends and correctional officers advocating for his early release. Yet, he is still eight years away from parole. While he remains in prison, COVID-19 continues to spread. Ronald’s three siblings, four children and four grandchildren are desperate for his release.

    Read more about Ronald Johnson and other at-risk incarcerated people.

Events Archive

4.15.21

Bring Our Neighbors Home: SB21-062

Cash bail should not be a death sentence. But for too many Coloradans who cannot afford to pay, it is. Knowing they do not have the money to buy their freedom, many people have died by suicide and desperation. A justice system that requires money in exchange for freedom costs lives. Join us on Thursday, April 15 at noon and learn how passing SB21-062....
Criminal Justice, Decarceration

3.24.21

*VIRTUAL* Colorado Reproductive Freedom Lobby Day

Please use the following link to RSVP: https://forms.gle/uwDsGzQ75bep1AW99 Join the Colorado Reproductive Health, Rights, and Justice Coalition as we host our first ever *VIRTUAL* lobby day at the state capitol. We will hear from story-tellers and activists in our movement followed by a lobby training. We will then join breakout rooms to meet with....

3.18.21

Bring Our Neighbors Home – Juvenile Detention Decarceration

Overcrowded. Despairing. Inhumane. The deplorable conditions of American jails and prisons are beyond what many people can imagine. Today, over 2 million Americans spend each night behind bars. Colorado incarcerates 635 per 100,000 people divided between prisons, jails, immigration detention and juvenile detention facilities. In addition, the penal....

3.11.21

“The Facility” Screening

Join us Thursday, March 11 at 7 p.m. for a virtual screening of “The Facility.” “The Facility” is a short documentary film chronicling the lived experiences of immigrants being held at the GEO detention facility in Aurora, Colorado. This film addresses the personal loss and consequences caused by for-profit detention and the federal government's....

3.10.21

Meet the New Executive Director Webinar

 ACLU of Colorado is pleased to announce Deborah J. Richardson as its new executive director. She will lead the organization in its mission to protect, defend, and extend the civil rights and civil liberties of all people in Colorado. Most recently, Richardson was the executive director of the International Human Trafficking Institute of the National....

3.02.21

Bring Our Neighbors Home – Immigration Legal Defense Fund

Overcrowded. Despairing. Inhumane. The deplorable conditions of American jails and prisons are beyond what many people can imagine. Today, over 2 million Americans spend each night behind bars. Colorado incarcerates 635 per 100,000 people divided between prisons, jails, immigration detention and juvenile detention facilities. In addition, the penal....