News & Commentary

After reports of four deaths of incarcerated individuals at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) in a period of three months, nine community organizations have called for an independent investigation of the deaths and greater transparency from the R.I. Department of Corrections (DOC).

Responding to a recent report indicating that some Rhode Island-based police officers took privately-run training courses that promoted the use of unconstitutional policing tactics for motor vehicle stops and included blatantly discriminatory and offensive comments.

Joining ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorneys in a critical case involving the rights of young people, national juvenile justice groups have filed “friend of the court” briefs today in the R.I. Supreme Court

Nine Rhode Island organizations have sent a letter to the Rhode Island House and Senate leadership and legislators on the first day of the 2024 legislative session, urging them to prioritize this year the passage of police reform bills beyond LEOBOR that promote police-community relations.

The ACLU of Rhode Island and the R.I. Center for Justice announced today that, in response to mediation arising out of pending federal litigation challenging the R.I. Department of Corrections’ (RIDOC) use of solitary confinement on individuals at the ACI

In a victory for criminal justice reform and the rights of youthful offenders, Rhode Island Superior Court Judge Stephen P. Nugent today ruled that Mario Monteiro is eligible for parole.

As questions swirl around the suicide of a man being held in solitary confinement at the ACI last week, the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island today filed a “friend of the court” brief supporting an ACI inmate’s constitutional challenge to his confinement in solitary for over a year as a violation of the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

ACLU Settles Suit Over Unlawful Assault And Arrest Of Narragansett Special Education Student

A federal court ruled unconstitutional a state law that makes it a crime for certain sex offenders to reside within 1,000 feet of a school, finding that the statute would require individuals subject to it to guess whether they were in compliance with it.