February 24, 2014

“It is baffling that Colorado courts and now the U.S Supreme Court have continued to deny the public access to the transcripts and other records of a death penalty case that was concluded six years ago.
“The records of criminal cases, especially where the government seeks an execution, must be open to public review and scrutiny. With questions nationwide and here in Colorado about the deep systematic flaws in administration of the death penalty, these trials should not be conducted in secret.”

Last night at our Annual Membership Meeting, we honored three Coloradans who advanced civil liberties in three different ways. Arlette Baer volunteered for the ACLU of Colorado every week for 40 years, including serving on our Board of Directors for many of those years. Mia Lopez stood up for students’ and women’s rights when she fought her school for the right to continue her academic progress while on maternity leave. And Public Defender Maralina Schoenfelder brought the solitary confinement of children at the El Pueblo Residential Treatment Center to light, helping to end the abusive practice and protect the rights of the children at the facility.

ACLU Operations Manager Caryn Osterman and Arlette Baer

In addition to the awards, we hosted a panel on the impact of economic injustice on civil liberties. We were fortunate to have Colorado Center on Law and Policy’s Executive Director Claire Levy and the Colorado Latino Forum’s Amanda Gonzalez join our very own Legal Director, Mark Silverstein, for a discussion that was especially timely given recent efforts by Grand Junction, Boulder, and Pueblo to limit the rights of the homeless and vulnerable.
Thank you to all of our wonderful members who attended!
Be sure to check out our Flickr page for more pictures of the event.

Welcome to the Colorado Rights Blog, the new online home of the ACLU of Colorado.
In this space, you’ll find videos, infographics, action alerts, “Know Your Rights” trainings and other informational tools to keep you informed about your rights and how we work to protect them.

On our newly redesigned website, you’ll see more video content, like Out of Sight, Out of Mind, The Story of Sam Mandez, an original short film about a man who spent more than 15 years in solitary confinement and now suffers from debilitating mental illness. The film is part of our ongoing campaign to end the use of solitary confinement for prisoners with mental illnesses.
You’ll also hear more frequently from our staff, our board, our members and volunteers through posts about civil rights issues on the new blog. If you’ve got a question or an idea for a blog post, contact me at [email protected].
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