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The RI ACLU has today filed a lawsuit challenging the Division of Motor Vehicle’s actions in refusing to reinstate a person’s driver’s license based on a “policy” that appears nowhere in the agency’s rules and regulations. The lawsuit, filed in R.I. Superior Court by ACLU volunteer attorneys Albin Moser and Melissa Braatz on behalf of Warwick resident Marc Lavik, argues that the DMV’s actions are in violation of the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), an important state law that requires agencies to provide advance notice and a public comment period before adopting policies that affect members of the public.

The RI ACLU has today filed suit against the RI Department of Public Safety (DPS), arguing that the agency failed to provide the public an appropriate opportunity to comment on controversial regulations establishing its policies for public access to DPS records. The suit, filed in R.I. Superior Court by RI ACLU volunteer attorney Jennifer Azevedo, argues that the DPS violated a state law known as the Administrative Procedures Act (APA), which is designed to ensure that state executive agencies go through a public rule-making process in adopting policies governing their conduct.

The RI ACLU has urged the United States Department of Justice to investigate the detention of truants overnight at the state Training School.  In a letter sent to DOJ officials, the ACLU asserts that the documented detention by Family Court judges of at least 28 minors violates a federal law, known as the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, that bars the imprisonment of minors who are charged with committing status offenses, such as truancy.

At a public hearing last night, the Rhode Island ACLU called on the state Reapportionment Commission address the critical problem of prison gerrymandering when drawing legislative district lines. Prison gerrymandering refers to the practice of counting all inmates at a prison as living there for purposes of redistricting. The impact of skewing districts this way is that the voting strength of the communities from which the inmates come is diluted, while the political influence of the city residents in which the prison is located is inflated.

On June 8th, Governor Chafee signed into law a bill supported by the ACLU, the RI State Nurses Association, RI NOW and other groups to restrict the shackling of pregnant prisoners.