Court Cases

A U.S. citizen improperly held in a county jail for months was finally released after the ACLU of Colorado contacted the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE).

After receiving numerous complaints from patients at the Colorado Mental Health Institute at Pueblo (CMHIP), the ACLU of Colorado initiated an investigation into allegations of a mass strip search and search of patient’s property. The investigation resulted in CMHIP revising its written policies and procedures.

At its core, religion is a personal choice. Yet for prisoners in an El Paso County Jail, until recent intervention by the ACLU of Colorado, faith wasn't enough. For inmates whose religious beliefs extended to their meals, i.e. keeping kosher, halal, or vegetarian, simply stating a need for a particular diet was insufficient. They had to provide a letter from a “licensed/ordained clergy person” confirming their status as a practicing member of the faith before the jail would serve them religious meals.

A months-long ACLU investigation resulted in a resounding success for basic human rights and dignity for persons charged with crimes in Weld County.

In this case, the ACLU asserts that the Denver Police Department (DPD) violated the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act when it refused to disclose any documents from the file of its investigation of the African American clients’ complaints of racial profiling arising from a traffic stop in February 2009.