Latest From ACLU of Washington

The latest content and updates from the ACLU of Washington website.

ACLU Report Exposes Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons

News Release, Published: 
Monday, October 4, 2010
It’s like something out of Dickens: Poor people being jailed for failing to pay debts they can never hope to afford. Washington is one of five states highlighted in a new report on this increasing practice and its devastating impacts on individuals.
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“In for a Penny” – read the ACLU report

Document, Published: 
Monday, October 4, 2010
This ACLU report presents the results of a yearlong investigation into modern-day "debtors' prisons," and shows that poor defendants are being jailed at increasingly alarming rates for failing to pay legal debts they can never hope to afford.
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Report Exposes Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons in Washington

News Release, Published: 
Monday, October 4, 2010
The ACLU of Washington and Columbia Legal Services have issued a report examining the unfair burdens court-ordered debts impose on poor people in Washington. “Modern-Day Debtors’ Prisons: The Ways Court-Imposed Debts Punish People for Being Poor” exposes a counterproductive system and calls for reform.
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Recovery Café: Standing in the Gap

Published: 
Friday, October 1, 2010
The phrase "standing in the gap" comes from the Old Testament. According to the prophet Ezekiel, God said, "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done." Yikes. Read more
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Stigma: Obstacle to Recovery, Legacy of the Drug War

Published: 
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
September is National Alcohol & Drug Addiction Recovery Month.  On Labor Day, Washingtonians and Oregonians in recovery, along with family and friends, joined hands in a human chain across the Interstate 5 bridge that spans the two states.  Patty Katz and Louise Wedge launched the annual Hands Across the Bridge event eight years ago to celebrate their own recovery and, as Patty puts it, "to put a face on recovery." Read more
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Sexual Abuse In Prison: No Laughing Matter

Published: 
Monday, September 27, 2010
A recent report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) indicates that the Clallam County Jail in Port Angeles had the third highest rate of sexual assaults against inmates amongst all jails surveyed throughout the U.S. Clallam County disputes the report, and has asked the FBI to investigate; BJS has countered its objections. This recent controversy casts a light on an important national issue that until recently, aside from the occasional crude joke, has been shrouded in silence. Sexual assault is a serious, pervasive problem in America's prisons, jails, and juvenile detention facilities, including in Washington.
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Court Rules Sexual Orientation Not a Bar to Military Service for Major Witt

News Release, Published: 
Friday, September 24, 2010
U.S. District Court Judge Ronald Leighton has ordered the Air Force to reinstate Major Margaret Witt, a decorated flight nurse who had been dismissed under the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. After six days of trial, the Court found that Major Witt’s sexual orientation does not negatively impact unit morale or cohesion.  ACLU of Washington attorneys have directly represented Major Witt since her case began in 2006.
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Sexting and the Law - Press Send to Turn Teenagers into Registered Sex Offenders

Published: 
Friday, September 24, 2010
Consensual sexting should not be a crime for teens or adults. The frightening reality, however, is that our current child pornography laws coupled with modern technology have the potential to create a sex offender registry populated with the children it was intended to protect and a generation of teenagers who will reach the age of majority already convicted as child sex offenders. This is not what child pornography laws were meant for, and the time has come to address the issue rationally and reasonably, before it is too late. Read more
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