News & Commentary

With 2.23 million people currently behind bars, our prisons and jails are vastly overcrowded, made up of too many people serving sentences for non-violent, low-level drug crimes. We have the dubious distinction of being the number one incarcerator in the world – followed by China with 1.6 million behind bars and Russia with 618,000.

Nearly twelve years have passed since the first prisoner arrived in Guantánamo Bay, making it the longest-standing war prison in U.S. history. Today the prison holds 164 detainees, and it is no less a symbol of our nation’s failure to adhere to the rule of law and human rights than it was in 2002 when it first began housing prisoners.

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.

That's how many people are serving life sentences with no chance of parole for nonviolent offenses in the United States according to a new ACLU report A Living Death: Life without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses.

Recently, the Vera Institute and the Prison Law Project completed a report examining sentencing and prison practices in Germany and the Netherlands as compared to the United States.  

Each Friday, we’ll bring you updates on the latest civil liberties news from Maine and the nation.

"In a year of historic victories for LGBT people, this one ranks near the top." So begins the ACLU statement on passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) in the Senate today. 

Victory on 1! Last night the voters of Portland approved Question 1 - legalizing marijuana use by adults -  by almost 70%!  The people of Portland have sent a message (a resounding message at that!) to lawmakers across the state and the nation that now is the time for reform of our marijuana laws.  The War on Marijuana has failed. Our criminal justice system is maxed out, our prisons and jails overcrowded, our budgets strained, and we are no safer for it. Furthermore, we have seen incalculable human costs. To read more on the ACLU’s work on marijuana reform and the consequences of prohibition click here. It is time now for a more sensible approach to marijuana - one that better protects our families and communities by allowing us to use our taxpayer dollars and policing resources more effectively and stops unnecessarily funneling people into our overcrowded criminal justice system! And last night Portland took the lead, becoming the first city in Maine and on the East Coast to legalize marijuana use by adults! The ACLU of is thrilled to join the voters of Portland in celebrating this historic first step towards reform!

Today I listened as two people who have been together for decades described how their lives have changed since they got married in July. Mostly it's in the details: they save a few hundred dollars each month in health care costs. They no longer cart around a huge pile of paperwork everywhere they go to prove their relationship to each other. They call each other spouse, not partner.