Being poor is not a crime

Being poor is not a crime, but in municipal courts throughout the state, people with little to no means are often punished, and even jailed, just for being poor. Debtors' prisons continue to thrive in Colorado. On Thursday, the Colorado House Judiciary Committee will consider two ACLU-backed bills to end debtors’ prisons and ensure legal counsel for impoverished defendants in local municipal courts.

Email the Colorado House Judiciary Committee today and urge them to support HB 1309 and HB 1311 and end debtors’ prisons in Colorado.

Jail should never be used to collect a debt from someone who cannot pay. The U.S. Supreme Court made that clear decades ago and the Colorado Legislature affirmed it in 2014, when 99 out of 100 legislators voted to end debtors’ prisons in Colorado. State and county courts have followed that law, but many local municipal courts have exploited a legal loophole to continue jailing impoverished debtors. The result has been hundreds, if not thousands, of Coloradans still being jailed when they are unable to pay court fines and fees.