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The State has paid over $5,500 in attorneys’ fees and costs to the RI ACLU to conclude an Access to Public Records Act (APRA) lawsuit the ACLU filed against Governor Donald Carcieri in 2008 seeking access to documents addressing the “chain of command” when the Governor is out of state.

The Rhode Island ACLU today objected to a request by the Wyatt Detention Center to prevent the public disclosure of videotapes of the treatment by guards of Hiu Lui “Jason” Ng, the 34-year-old Chinese detainee who died in August 2008 while in the facility’s custody. The objection was filed in the ACLU’s on-going lawsuit on behalf of Ng’s family, which challenges the lack of medical care he received while suffering from terminal cancer and a broken spine.

In a letter faxed today to Coventry School District Superintendent Kenneth DiPietro, the Rhode Island ACLU called for an immediate revision to the school’s dress code policy, which apparently bans students from displaying any images of weapons. Pointing to this week’s highly-publicized incident when eight year old student David Morales was barred from wearing a patriotic hat because it included toy soldiers carrying guns, the ACLU called the dress code clearly unconstitutional. The RI ACLU letter, from executive director Steven Brown, noted:

Claiming that the Narragansett Police Department has “set a very dangerous precedent that could have a significantly chilling effect on freedom of speech by town residents,” the Rhode Island ACLU has called on the town’s Police Chief to drop criminal “cyberstalking” charges recently lodged against two town residents in separate incidents. The charges stem from vulgar comments the residents made about two local politicians on a Craigslist website devoted to “rants and raves.”

The Rhode Island ACLU today announced the favorable settlement of a suit it filed against the City of Pawtucket in July, charging city officials with violating a state law that restricts random drug testing in the workplace.