BOULDER, Colo.—Civil rights advocates plan to challenge Boulder’s ban on camping in public places, saying it makes criminals out of the homeless.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed a notice in Boulder County District Court Monday that it will appeal the conviction of a homeless man for sleeping on public property. Mark Silverstein, legal director of the Colorado ACLU, said the ban on camping in public places includes a prohibition on using a shelter, which has been interpreted to include sleeping bags.
Boulder spokesman Patrick von Keyserling said city officials hadn’t seen the notice and don’t comment on pending lawsuits.
The ACLU is representing David Madison, who was convicted in May for camping on public property. Silverstein said Madison, who is homeless, was using a sleeping bag.
“If our client had just slept in his clothes, he might have gotten hypothermia, but he would not have been found guilty,” said Mark Walta, the attorney on the case.
Silverstein said Boulder’s homeless shelter is closed in the summer and has room for only 160 people in the winter, less than a quarter of the city’s estimated homeless population.
“We’re arguing that when shelters are closed or are full,” Silverstein said, “it’s unfair and unconstitutional to brand someone a criminal and impose fines or jail sentences on people who have no choice but to sleep outdoors.”
Homeless advocates have protested Boulder’s ordinance at recent city council meetings. Violators of the ordinance can be fined $100 or sentenced to community service.
