News & Commentary

Calling it a “flagrant breach” of the state’s Access to Public Records Act, the ACLU of Rhode Island has today filed with the Attorney General a complaint against the Narragansett Police Department for refusing to release any copies of its final investigations of complaints of police misconduct.  The complaint was filed by ACLU of RI cooperating attorney James Cullen on behalf of Dimitri Lyssikatos, a member of the Rhode Island Accountability Project.

The ACLU of Rhode Island has issued the following statement in response to the R.I. Supreme Court's decision today ruling that records of the grand jury's investigation of the 38 Studios debacle cannot be released:

“I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked…” - Allen Ginsberg, “Howl”

The ACLU of Rhode Island announced today that the Barrington School District has dropped the lawsuit it filed in October against one of its own students who had successfully challenged before the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE) his three-day out-of-school suspension. Barrington’s lawsuit, which the ACLU had called “outrageous and shameful” when it was filed, had sought to overturn the RIDE decision and also demanded a recovery of attorneys’ fees from both the middle school student and RIDE. The ACLU called the suit’s dismissal “welcome but overdue.”

UPDATE 1/28/20: The Council affirmed the ruling, but directed the Commissioner of Education "to begin the process of revising current ELL regulations." Here is the statement from the organizations that had sought rejection of the ruling:

Bolstered by similar national trends, Rhode Island has enacted several positive and significant criminal justice reform measures over the past few years. Unfortunately, every step forward by the General Assembly seems to be accompanied by a step back.

Under a stipulation signed by R.I. Superior Court Judge Robert Krause and entered today, the RI Department of Corrections (DOC) will release from custody a man that ACLU of Rhode Island attorneys argued was unlawfully being held in prison despite a unanimous decision by the R.I. Parole Board to release him on supervised parole.

A habeas corpus petition filed today by ACLU of Rhode Island attorneys argues that an inmate is unlawfully being held in prison despite a decision by the R.I. Parole Board that he had demonstrated that he was qualified and ready for release on supervised parole.

A legal claim for damages has been sent today to the City of Pawtucket over a School Resource Officer’s (SRO) gratuitous and unlawful handcuffing and arrest of a 13-year-old African-American middle school honors student. The damages claim was submitted by ACLU of Rhode Island cooperating attorney Shannah Kurland as a required legal prerequisite to the filing of a lawsuit on behalf of the student, Tre’sur Johnson.