Who is the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition?

Our mission is to reverse the trend of mass incarceration in Colorado. We are a coalition of nearly 7,000 individual members and over 100 faith and community organizations who have united to stop perpetual prison expansion in Colorado through policy and sentence reform.

Our chief areas of interest include drug policy reform, women in prison, racial injustice, the impact of incarceration on children and families, the problems associated with re-entry and stopping the practice of using private prisons in our state.

If you would like to be involved please go to our website and become a member.


Monday, May 21, 2007

Denver Rescue Mission Marathon

One of those stories that show that people are salvageable and that with support they can get past the "demons" that chase them. There is a saying that recovering from addiction isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.

Crack addiction burned almost every relationship in Shannon Chandler's life. He hurt most of his friends and family. But through it all, his mother, Nancy Chandler, stood strong and supported him.

On a sunny Sunday morning, amid cheers and banners and balloons, Shannon Chandler, 41, lumbered across the finish line of the Colorado Colfax Marathon. With tears running down his face, he still had the energy to embrace Mom, waiting at the finish line.

"She stuck with me through my addictions, and she was there for me at the end of the race," said Chandler, one of 17 men in the Denver Rescue Mission's drug rehabilitation program who took on the race.

trickled in wearing their bright yellow Rescue Mission T-shirts - all completing a goal they set out to accomplish when they began an intense training program in January.

A few who had started the program dropped out before the race.

Some, like Chandler, ran/walked the half-marathon. Nine men took on the entire 26.2-mile course from Aurora west through Denver and Lakewood, finally finishing at Colorado Mills mall.


DENVER POST

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