June 6, 2014
DENVER - Statement of ACLU of Colorado Public Policy Director Denise Maes on SB 64, a bill banning long term solitary confinement of prisoners with serious mental illness, which was signed into law this morning by Governor Hickenlooper having received near unanimous approval from the state legislature.
“The ACLU of Colorado commends Governor Hickenlooper and the Colorado legislature for banning the cruel, costly, and unconstitutional practice of warehousing prisoners with serious mental illness in long term solitary confinement.
“The legislation solidifies and provides critical funding for policies initiated by Department of Corrections Director Rick Raemisch that provide adequate out-of-cell treatment for prisoners with serious mental illness, rather than sticking those prisoners in 23 hour-a-day solitary cells. Treatment aimed at rehabilitation is critical, because 97% of today’s prison population will eventually return to our communities and live as our neighbors.
“The legislature’s overwhelming bipartisan support of SB 64 is a fitting tribute to the legacy of the late Tom Clements. This new law moves Colorado one step closer to realizing the former Director’s stated desire of bringing greater safety to the public and humanity to the prisons by ending our state’s historic over-reliance on solitary confinement.
“The ACLU of Colorado values our ongoing partnership with Director Raemisch and his staff, as we continue to work together toward our mutual goal of ending the brutal and inhumane use of long-term solitary confinement in all forms.”
Visit the Stop Solitary campaign page at: https://aclu-co.org/campaigns/stop-solitary/
Read our report on mentally ill Colorado prisoners in solitary confinement:https://aclu-co.org/news/co-prisons-continue-to-warehouse-mentally-ill-in-solitary-confinement
Watch Out of Sight, Out of Mind – The Story of Sam Mandez, about a Colorado man who spent more than 15 years in solitary confinement and suffers from debilitating mental illness: http://vimeo.com/78840078
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(From the ACLU Blog of Rights)
Below is an email ACLU supporters received from Edward Snowden this morning, one year to the day since The Guardian broke the first in a series of revelations exposing the breathtaking scope of U.S. government surveillance. Click here for a new video documenting the incredible events of the last year, along with a timeline and the ACLU’s guide to privacy reform.
It's been one year.
Technology has been a liberating force in our lives. It allows us to create and share the experiences that make us human, effortlessly. But in secret, our very own government -- one bound by the Constitution and its Bill of Rights -- has reverse-engineered something beautiful into a tool of mass surveillance and oppression. The government right now can easily monitor whom you call, whom you associate with, what you read, what you buy, and where you go online and offline, and they do it to all of us, all the time.
Today, our most intimate private records are being indiscriminately seized in secret, without regard for whether we are actually suspected of wrongdoing. When these capabilities fall into the wrong hands, they can destroy the very freedoms that technology should be nurturing, not extinguishing. Surveillance, without regard to the rule of law or our basic human dignity, creates societies that fear free expression and dissent, the very values that make America strong.
In the long, dark shadow cast by the security state, a free society cannot thrive.
That's why one year ago I brought evidence of these irresponsible activities to the public -- to spark the very discussion the U.S. government didn't want the American people to have. With every revelation, more and more light coursed through a National Security Agency that had grown too comfortable operating in the dark and without public consent. Soon incredible things began occurring that would have been unimaginable years ago. A federal judge in open court called an NSA mass surveillance program likely unconstitutional and "almost Orwellian." Congress and President Obama have called for an end to the dragnet collection of the intimate details of our lives. Today legislation to begin rolling back the surveillance state is moving in Congress after more than a decade of impasse.
I am humbled by our collective successes so far. When the Guardian and The Washington Post began reporting on the NSA's project to make privacy a thing of the past, I worried the risks I took to get the public the information it deserved would be met with collective indifference.
One year later, I realize that my fears were unwarranted.
Americans, like you, still believe the Constitution is the highest law of the land, which cannot be violated in secret in the name of a false security. Some say I'm a man without a country, but that's not true. America has always been an ideal, and though I'm far away, I've never felt as connected to it as I do now, watching the necessary debate unfold as I hoped it would. America, after all, is always at our fingertips; that is the power of the Internet.
But now it's time to keep the momentum for serious reform going so the conversation does not die prematurely.
Only then will we get the legislative reform that truly reins in the NSA and puts the government back in its constitutional place. Only then will we get the secure technologies we need to communicate without fear that silently in the background, our very own government is collecting, collating, and crunching the data that allows unelected bureaucrats to intrude into our most private spaces, analyzing our hopes and fears. Until then, every American who jealously guards their rights must do their best to engage in digital self-defense and proactively protect their electronic devices and communications. Every step we can take to secure ourselves from a government that no longer respects our privacy is a patriotic act.
We've come a long way, but there's more to be done.
-- Edward J. Snowden, American
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Thursday, June 5, 2014 - 12:31pmShow featured image
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DENVER – The Colorado Civil Rights Commission ruled that a Lakewood bakery violated the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act by refusing to sell a wedding cake to a gay couple. At a public hearing today, the commission rejected the bakery’s appeal of an earlier finding of unlawful discrimination by an administrative judge.
David Mullins and Charlie Craig visited Masterpiece Cakeshop in 2012, with Craig’s mother, to order a cake for their upcoming wedding reception. Mullins and Craig planned to marry in Massachusetts and then celebrate with family and friends back home in Colorado. Masterpiece owner Jack Phillips informed them that because of his religious beliefs the store’s policy was to deny service to customers who wished to order baked goods to celebrate a same-sex couple’s wedding.
“What should have been a happy day for us turned into a humiliating and dehumanizing experience because of the way we were treated,” said Mullins. “No one should ever have to walk into a store and wonder if they will be turned away just because of who they are.”
Long-standing Colorado state law prohibits public accommodations, including businesses such as Masterpiece Cakeshop, from refusing service based on factors such as race, sex, marital status or sexual orientation.
Last year, an administrative judge upheld the Colorado Civil Rights Division’s finding of illegal discrimination by the bakery. Today’s decision from the Colorado Civil Rights Commission affirms the prior ruling. The commission voted unanimously to order a change in policy by the bakery, as well as staff training, and quarterly reporting to confirm that the business does not turn away customers due to sexual orientation.
“Religious freedom is undoubtedly an important American value, but so is the right to be treated equally under the law free from discrimination,” said Amanda C. Goad, staff attorney with the ACLU Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Project. “Everyone is free to believe what they want, but businesses like Masterpiece Cakeshop cannot treat some customers differently than others based on who they are as people.”
Phillips admitted he had turned away other same-sex couples as a matter of policy despite Colorado’s law.
“Masterpiece Cakeshop has willfully and repeatedly considered itself above the law when it comes to discriminating against customers, and the Commission has rightly determined otherwise,” said Sara R. Neel, staff attorney with the ACLU of Colorado.
“This law was passed to protect the people of Colorado from experiencing the very same treatment Charlie and David experienced,” said Paula Greisen of King and Griesen LLP, which is representing the couple as cooperating counsel with the ACLU of Colorado. “Everyone who shops in our stores and conducts business in our state should be treated with equality and dignity. That’s what this ruling was about today.”
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Friday, May 30, 2014 - 11:45amFeatured image
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