Spero Justice Center

Spero Justice Center’s mission is to end mass incarceration in Colorado by targeting one of its most entrenched and overlooked drivers: long prison sentences.

Spero was founded in 2021 to fill a void in Colorado’s indigent defense and criminal legal advocacy landscape. Despite Colorado’s strong statewide public defender system and network of criminal legal advocates, no organization focused specifically on fighting lengthy and extreme sentencing practices and representing people serving life or long sentences.

Over the past five years, Spero has become a scrappy and effective force for justice. We provide free legal representation to clients navigating every pathway out of prison in Colorado, litigate systemically important cases at the trial and appellate levels, and work to pass legislation expanding second chance opportunities in Colorado. We have helped pass important pieces of legislation, welcomed home numerous clients who were once serving life and extremely long sentences, and built momentum toward a more just and less punitive criminal legal system.