The American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin officially opened a Madison office Monday on the fifth floor of 122 State St.

The ACLU is a national organization defending civil liberties as well as protecting constitutional and civil rights. The Madison office opened because of a dramatic increase in Madison members who feel issues regarding equality must be defended, such as the USA PATRIOT Act and other government intrusions since Sept. 11, 2001.

Those who say the government has violated their civil rights should be aware of the ACLU’s presence in Madison, said ACLU Community Advocate Dianne Riley.

“Madison is the perfect place for an office; it’s the state capital and we have 1600 members here,” Riley said. “The Madison community is good about organizing and pushing legislation through,” she added.

The ACLU of Wisconsin has 6,000 members statewide who work to promote free speech, religious liberty, reproductive freedom, privacy, lesbian/gay rights and the rights of minorities.

According to Riley, the ACLU feels it is important to see that civil-liberty violations are addressed as well as work to build programs or campaigns around what the Madison community sees as relevant issues.

“In terms of new programs, it’s a new issue,” Riley said.

Through coordination with community organizations such as the Veterans for Peace and the University of Wisconsin undergraduate and law schools, there has been much help in opening the new office, Riley said.

The UW component of the ACLU works primarily with the law school to provide educational programs, monthly discussions and campus and community awareness of civil-liberty violations, according to Kelda Roys of the UW ACLU branch.

“We do some advocacy and that interests students,” Roys said.

In the past, the ACLU has focused on pushing legislation that identifies the protection and promotion of civil liberties.

Much of the organization’s work revolves around controversial provisions of the Patriot Act, including what it describes as the use of sneak-and-peek delayed notification warrants, the expanded use of national-security letters to obtain sensitive records, domestic spying on innocent Americans, and the detention of suspects convicted of no crime indefinitely in six-month increments.

ACLU staff said bringing the advocacy group to Madison will help to concentrate statewide efforts to question the validity of the Patriot Act. The ACLU wrote a letter to Madison Mayor Cieslewicz Oct. 15 asking for details regarding the city’s response to the one-year anniversary of the Madison Common Council Resolution to defend the Bill of Rights and civil liberties.

The ACLU said it hopes to bring forward last year’s efforts to oppose the Patriot Act under former Madison Mayor Sue Bauman through Cieslewicz.

Despite the fact that the ALCU has a reputation for lawsuits defending people’s civil liberties, Riley said the organization has not fallen into the trap of politics.

Volunteers helped facilitate much of the work involved in the process of opening the organization, and they aid in the work done at the new office every day of the week.