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.


Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Walk To Stop ICE Detention Facility

Saturday, March 1 11:00 a.m.

Colorado Progressive Coalition office, 1600 Downing St. Suite 210


OPPOSE the construction of a new immigrant detention center in Aurora!


The GEO Group, one of the nation's largest private prison corporations wants to build a new 1,100 bed immigrant holding facility in Aurora
The Aurora Planning Commission will vote on the proposal to build this facility March 12.

If you would like to help stop this facility from being built:

1. Contact Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition at chandrarusso@gmail.com with your name and/or organization to sign on to the attached petition

2. Contact the Planning Commission directly, along with the Mayor and Aurora City Council, and tell them to oppose the detention center.

Their email addresses:

3. Personalize and print the petition as a letter to be sent to:

Planning Commission Members, Aurora Mayor and City Council

c/o Susan Chapel

15151 E. Alameda Parkway, 2nd floor

Aurora, CO 80012

4. Join us on Saturday, March 1 at 11 a.m. at the Colorado Progressive Coalition, 1600 Downing St.

We will meet to review strategy, talk about how to engage safely and respectfully.

We will then drive out to Aurora to flyer. If you are unable to make it to this event but know others that

might, please forward this message to them.


THE PETITION:

Planning Commission Members

c/o Susan Chapel

15151 E. Alameda Parkway, 2nd floor

Aurora, CO 80012

Cc: Aurora Mayor and City Council

Dear Planning Commission Members,

As you may know, the GEO Group, a billion dollar corporation, wants to build a new 1,100 bed immigrant holding facility in Aurora. This facility will hurt our community and lead to great suffering while putting millions of tax dollars into the pockets of a destructive corporation.

We strongly urge you to OPPOSE the construction of a new immigrant detention center in Aurora when it comes up for hearing on March 12.

Here is why:

Detention hurts asylum seekers and other victims of torture and trauma Torture survivors, victims of trafficking, and other vulnerable groups can be detained for months or even years, further aggravating their isolation, depression, and other mental health problems associated with the horrors they have experienced.

· Conditions in detention are atrocious Detention centers across the country have prevented men, women and children access to phones and food. Several people held in immigration detention have died because they did not receive basic medical care. The GEO Group was forced to close detention centers after the US Justice Department sued for “abuse and neglect,” “life threatening conditions,” and sexual assault of children.

· Private prisons profit off of misery GEO is expecting $30 million a year in profits for its new Aurora facility. GEO has a vested interest in having sufficient men, women and children to fill its beds. To GEO, they’re not people, they’re profits- at $95 per person per day. To this end, the GEO group has given hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to ensure elected officials push for policies that benefit GEO- more detentions nation-wide

· A detention center can become a poorly run state or federal prison almost overnight The GEO Group has not been granted an immigration contract for its proposed Aurora facility, meaning it could be used as a prison. Private prisons have been shown to cut corners, have inadequate staffing levels and receive little government oversight

As decision makers for Aurora, we trust you will make choices that strengthen our communities and enhance our way of life. We believe you will support development that enriches our neighborhoods and maintains our values.

Building one of the country’s largest immigration detention center in Aurora does neither of these things. It is an affront to communities, families, workers and tax-payers. We trust you will not allow this detention center to be built.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

No where in your article do you define between LEGAL and ILLEGAL immigrants.
Our constitution says we shall maintain an army and a navy to protect our borders and ports.
You people are crying about a detention center for ILLEGALS. When they (illegals) take your jobs, over run your schools, hospital emergency rooms, your welfare office's. I think its about time our government start doing things right. Get those illegals out of Denver. They have already turned your city into a slum area.djw

Anonymous said...

I think we need to get all the illegals out of every city for the same reasons as above. Its atrocious the crime they bring, and how they soak our system in a variety of ways. We just need to crack down on our borders and keep them in their own country if they want to be illegal. We have and always have had the legal way for them to come into our country and if they cant abid by the law of this, they dont need to be here.

Anonymous said...

there are legal ways to come to this country and it takes about a year and its alot of paper work and background checks a other stuff,if the mexicans want to come here they should go through this process , if not we should deport every last one of them ,they wouldnt be illegals if they took the time and effort to get here legaly,they dont care about this country and the only thing they care about is what they can get from america and americans...we dont owe them shit other then a kick in the ass out of this country ...
we should fine any employer who hires an illegal at least 50,000 dollars and more for each infraction therafter ,this would stop there ability or need to come here since no one would hire them for risk of a fine of this size...
they should open more i.c.e. offices in each county to help with this problem ,plus let regular police arrest and detain them for a short time and quickly deport them to mexico and the other countrys any illegals come from..a march for them is a fuckin joke ,there lucky people are not out hunting them just like in arizona ...they are ruining this country and im willing to pay all the extra taxes to rid our country of every last one of them..........charlie