Changes coming to ACI's use of confinement, but officers say it will cost taxpayers money
PROVIDENCE – Calling it “a very positive development,” the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union and the Rhode Island Center for Justice on Thursday detailed hard-fought changes to the state Department of Corrections' use of "solitary confinement" to take effect July 31.
The most significant change, reached through mediation during the course of a federal lawsuit, limits disciplinary confinement to a maximum of 30 days for the most serious offenses and 15 days for other serious offenses, as well as requiring that all prisoners will be medically and psychiatrically evaluated before being isolated.
“The new RIDOC policies are steps in a positive direction that bring RIDOC closer in line with recognized national best practices. We look forward to continuing to work with people incarcerated at the [Adult Correctional Institutions], RIDOC, and the court-appointed experts as we continue settlement discussions,” said Natalia Friedlander, a consulting attorney with the Rhode Island Center for Justice.
Other changes to confinement at ACI
• Corrections officials are barred from “stacking” disciplinary offenses to prevent individuals from being in confinement for more than 30 consecutive days.
• After the maximum 30-day period, prisoners will either be returned to “general population” or referred to a new step-down program, known as the “Restorative Housing Program." That initiative consists of a progression of steps designed to return individuals to the general population.
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• In the step-down program, prisoners will be entitled to, among other things, a TV and radio, ability to access the commissary, and access to educational materials as well as services to help them with their rehabilitation.
• While in disciplinary confinement, prisoners must be given a minimum of two hours out-of-cell time every day during the first 15 days, and a minimum of three hours out-of-cell every day during the next 15 days. In addition, they will be provided a tablet and reading material and allowed more visitation than currently authorized.
• The disciplinary code has been revised in numerous ways to better clarify the offenses that may lead to disciplinary confinement.
DOC says changes being `embraced'
J.R. Ventura, spokesman for the Department of Corrections, said they have been engaged in improving its restrictive housing practices since 2016.
"The staff of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections has embraced the changes to provide rehabilitative opportunities to those incarcerated who violate prison rules. The goal of the changes is to prepare and return them to general population through programming that modifies behavior in the Restorative Housing Program," Ventura said.
"The Rhode Island Department of Corrections will continue to work towards nationally recognized best practices in all facets of its policies and operations to ensure the safety of all persons in our facilities," he continued.
Prisoner challenges corrections policies
Richard Lee Paiva, 50, who is serving a life term, successfully challenged the department’s compliance with a court order in place since the 1970s that limited the time an inmate can be held in solitary confinement to 30 days after he was held in disciplinary segregation for 60 days on a single booking in 2014.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in a 2020 ruling found that the Department of Corrections “unilaterally and substantively” changed the so-called Morris Rules in 2005 when it instituted a policy that prisoners could be held in disciplinary segregation for 31 days to a year on a single offense. McConnell faulted the department for not first seeking the approval of the court and ordered that the prison come into compliance with the rules within 30 days.
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The new policies were developed in mediation with the assistance of U.S. District Court, court-appointed experts, ACLU cooperating attorneys, the Rhode Island Center for Justice and corrections officials. The mediation process is ongoing and confidential with no settlement yet reached, but Lynette Labinger, a lawyer working with the ACLU, called the policy changes “a very positive development that we hope will contribute to a constructive settlement at a later date.”
The ACLU credited Paiva as being instrumental in initially bringing the lawsuit back to the federal court for enforcement.
“While not perfect, I am satisfied with these new policy reforms, which will end the harmful use of long-term punitive segregation and solitary confinement at the ACI,” Paiva said in a statement. “The hard work and unrelenting dedication of my attorneys as well as all of the voices of the advocates on the outside to make these reforms a reality cannot be overstated.”
New policies to be monitored
The ACLU indicated that their lawyers would be monitoring implementation of the new policies and looking for feedback from those incarcerated at the ACI as they are implemented.
“With these changes, substantial steps have been taken to protect the mental and emotional well being of all inmates who are placed in disciplinary confinement and the newly formed Restorative Housing Unit. Importantly, inmates in these statuses will also be able to access educational materials and other behavioral management services which will ultimately assist them in their rehabilitation efforts and hopefully result in better societal reintegration upon their release,” Sonja Deyoe, a cooperating lawyer with the ACLU, said.
The state Department of Corrections distributed to the ACI population on Thursday a memo summarizing the policy changes, according to the ACLU. A separate lawsuit specifically challenges the use of solitary confinement on individuals with severe and persistent mental illness remains pending.
Union: 'We’ll see where it goes'
Richard Ferruccio, president of the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers, said the union was not involved in the mediation. He forecasted that the increased recreation time will require more corrections officers on duty, more overtime, and more officers be required to stay on past the end of their shift.
“It’s going to cost taxpayers more money,” Ferruccio said.
The union has been opposed to legislation to reform the use of solitary confinement in Rhode Island.
“It’s softening down the tools we use. We’ll see where it goes. The test will be the next six months,” he said.
Corrections officials have long disputed advocates' use of the term solitary confinement.
“To interchangeably compare Rhode Island’s modern Restrictive Housing protocols with an outdated practice like solitary confinement does great disservice to our state. RIDOC believes that every person, regardless of their status, deserves to be treated humanely, with dignity and respect,” spokesman J.R. Ventura has previously said.
Call for the passage of further reforms
The Stop Torture RI Campaign, an advocacy organization that pushed for the passage of legislation to reform the state's use of solitary confinement, praised the changes while calling for more action.
"The changes that are being made are clear evidence of the impact of the sustained court,legislative, and public awareness campaigns to reform the inhumane conditions at the ACI,”Brandon Robinson, manager of the Stop Torture RI Campaign, said. “However, legislationwould still need to be passed in order to codify these policies to prevent future RIDOC membersfrom overturning the hard work that was put in to obtain these changes. Codification wouldensure that the DOC doesn’t revert back to the policies of the past which lead to torture anddeaths inside the ACI, such as the deaths of Brian Rodenas and two others this spring."
The organization vowed to continue to advocate for further reforms. Brian Rodenas, 27, of Pawtucket, was one of three men being held at the Adult Correctional Institutions who corrections official said died by by suicide earlier this year.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: ACI's disciplinary confinement policies are changing in deal with ACLU
