The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama is freedom's watchdog; we work in the courts, legislatures and communities to defend the individual rights and personal freedoms guaranteed to us by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The ACLU is a private, non-profit membership organization. Our mission is to preserve and protect the civil liberties and civil rights guaranteed by the U. S. Constitution, especially the principles contained in the Bill of Rights. Among the issues we work on are freedom of speech, freedom of religion, government-sponsored religious activities, privacy, discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation or disability, police misconduct, censorship in schools or libraries, fairness in application of school discipline, workplace privacy, access to government documents, inhumane jail and prison conditions, and other issues of fair treatment by government.