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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. 

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11.19.20

We Won, but the Fight for Reproductive Rights Continues.

We have a lot to celebrate after Election Day. Here in Colorado, we defeated Prop 115 to keep abortion bans out of our state. And with record-breaking ballots cast nationwide, thanks in large part to deep organizing by people of color, we are setting the stage to protect reproductive freedom for all. With a SCOTUS hostile to abortion rights and anti-abortion advocates determined to overturn Roe v. Wade, it’s more important than ever to safeguard abortion access in Colorado. We have momentum,.... | Read More

11.13.20

ACLU and DOC Resolve Class Action COVID-19 Lawsuit, While Case Against Governor Continues

November 13, 2020 DENVER – With two court filings today, ACLU of Colorado announced a resolution with the Colorado Department of Corrections (DOC) of last May’s class action lawsuit alleging failure to protect medically vulnerable people in prison from COVID-19. The DOC and ACLU jointly asked the Denver District Court to enter an order, called a “consent decree,” which memorializes the terms of the resolution. It requires access to masks and hygiene supplies; prioritizes safe housing.... | Read More

11.3.20

Colorado Voters Strike Down Ban on Abortion at the Ballot Box

DENVER, CO — Colorado voters rejected Proposition 115 tonight, a ballot measure to ban abortion later in pregnancy, rejecting the ballot initiative by a 60-40 margin. If passed, Proposition 115 would have made it a crime for doctors to provide abortion care starting at 22 weeks in pregnancy, with no consideration for the unique circumstances of each pregnancy. The one-size-fits-all mandate would have prevented doctors from providing the best medical care for their patients. This is the.... | Read More

11.3.20

No on 115, One Family’s Story

Proposition 115 is a dangerous mistake that is deeply personal for us. When we decided to grow our family, pregnancy did not come easy for us. When it happened, after several years of attempts, we were overjoyed. Early complications left us with a risky pregnancy to both mother and child that our doctors closely monitored. They needed the fetus to develop for 22 weeks before they could fully diagnose the issues and give us accurate information. The prognosis was heartbreaking. The developmental.... | Read More

11.3.20

A High Risk Pregnancy Obstetrician Says Vote No on 115

"Proposition 115 does not extend compassionate care." True story. A 25-year-old patient and her husband go to their OBGYN’s office for a routine, mid-pregnancy ultrasound. They are excited - they’ve spent the last several months preparing for their new family and adventures yet to come. A few minutes later, their world turns upside down. Their baby has anencephaly, a condition in which major parts of the brain and skull do not form.  It is a lethal diagnosis and a devastating blow.... | Read More

10.20.20

Colorado Legislators Sign Joint Letter Opposing Amendment 76

32 State Lawmakers Condemn 76 as an Anti-immigrant “Voter Suppression” Effort, Urge no Vote DENVER – In a letter released Monday, 32 Democratic state lawmakers called on Coloradans to vote no on Amendment 76, condemning the measure as a “cynical, misguided initiative.” Legislators – including the Speaker of the House, Senate Majority Leader, and several other high-ranking officials – decried the amendment as a “direct attack on Colorado's youngest voters and our immigrant community,”.... | Read More