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  • Cedric Watkins is a father, uncle, entrepreneur-in-training, and a vital community pillar for many others. While behind bars, he has tirelessly devoted himself to serving his peers and his community. He developed gang disaffiliation programs for other incarcerated individuals and is currently involved with Defy Ventures. He sends letters and calls his daughter as much as he can.

    Cedric is currently in prison at Sterling Correctional Facility. He was convicted of aggravated robbery, burglary, kidnapping, theft and sentenced to 80 years; no one was seriously injured or killed. For comparison, a person convicted of second-degree murder in Colorado faces a maximum sentence of 48 years. Cedric has already served 20 years and has fully rehabilitated during that time.

    It’s time to bring Cedric home: acluco.org/redemption. Redemption is real. Clemency is compassion.

  • 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. 

Events Archive

7.28.21

Reproductive Rights Roadshow is Back!

Join ACLU of Colorado and Elephant Circle on Wednesday, July 28 at 12 p.m. as we kick off the Reproductive Roadshow with a special virtual training. RSVP Here  You’ll have the opportunity to learn about birth justice, which, like reproductive justice, is an intersectional approach to a range of issues and needs that determine how people give....

7.24.21

Durango’s Picnic at the Park: A celebration of culture, community, and legal defense for all

Join us on Saturday, July 24 at Rotary Park in Durango. On June 25, the statewide Legal Defense Fund for immigrants was signed into law along with significant legislation that will keep our friends and neighbors safe. With no right to legal counsel during deportation proceedings, we must celebrate these wins and continue to educate Coloradans....
Immigrants’ Rights

6.29.21

Expanding the Table for Justice

ACLU of Colorado is launching a statewide initiative on Tuesday, June 29. Expanding the Table for Justice (ETFJ) is a 60-day listening tour to connect with Colorado advocacy groups, anointed and appointed leaders, and everyday individuals to learn about their community work, how they view the work of the ACLU, and how the ACLU of Colorado may support....

5.27.21

Learn About Senate Bill 21-273

As a key supporter of Senate Bill 21-062, we want to update you on the fate of that bill and inform you about the good work still to come. While SB21-062 had strong public support, it also faced intense opposition driven by misinformation and fear-mongering by law enforcement. Even as we continued to grow our “yes” votes in the Senate, the bill....
Criminal Legal Reform, Decarceration

5.24.21

Tattered Cover Presents: Criminal Justice System Reform

Join Colorado's Attorney General Phil Weiser and the ACLU of Colorado for a conversation about criminal justice reform with Rachel Barkow, Vice Dean and Professor at New York University School of Law and the author of Prisoner of Politics: Breaking the Cycle of Mass Incarceration. Sign up here and join us on May 24 at 6:30 p.m.   **Important....

4.28.21

Support SB21-62: Virtual Activist Training

We need your help. If you live in Adams, Jefferson, Larimer or Pueblo, your Senator may be the deciding vote in whether pretrial justice succeeds in Colorado. Senate Bill 21-062 is being considered by the Colorado Senate. Without your support, this bill will not pass into law, and thousands of Coloradans will remain behind bars simply because they....
Criminal Legal Reform