ACLU lawsuit prompts prison to halt mail inspections

People incarcerated at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) in Cranston can now trust that confidential mail they get from their attorneys will not have been opened by correctional officers first.
That’s according to an announcement Wednesday from the ACLU of Rhode Island, which last October filed a lawsuit against the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (DOC) in Providence Superior Court claiming the state’s prison system informally adopted a new practice governing mail and attorney visits in the past year.
Lawsuit claims ACI officials are interfering with attorney visits and mail delivery
The ACLU also challenged a policy that took effect last June requiring adult visitors to the ACI to have their photograph taken, with images maintained in the DOC’s database. The ACLU alleged prison officials violated the state’s Administrative Procedures Act after informally adopting the new practices.
Both practices have been halted, the ACLU said.
A hearing for a preliminary injunction originally scheduled for Friday in Providence Superior Court has been canceled.
“The case will continue, but the urgency has dissipated with their revision of the proposed rules to protect the attorney-client privilege under the emergency rules they have filed,” ACLU Executive Director Steven Brown said in an email to Rhode Island Current.
Under state law, state agencies must publish a notice on the agency’s website and file a notice with the Secretary of State at least 30 days before adopting, modifying or repealing a rule. The law provides for a public comment period of at least 30 days.
ACLU attorneys have argued that the updated policies have allowed correctional officers to routinely confiscate and inspect letters sent to inmates, including confidential letters sent from their lawyers.
DOC spokesperson J.R. Ventura said in a statement that correctional staff had to balance visitation rules with the need for additional security over a reported nationwide spike in overdoses across prisons nationwide.
“As a national leader reducing overdose deaths during the opioid crisis, the RI Department of Corrections takes the threat of drug contraband very seriously,” Ventura said.
Prison officials are concerned that paper laced with the highly addictive, synthetic cannabinoid K2 could be sent in the mail to prisoners at the ACI.
“I know they’ve used an excuse of having a drug problem inside, but maybe they need to do a better job doing their job,” Stop Torture R.I. Coalition campaign manager Brandon Robinson, a former ACI inmate, said in an interview Wednesday. “Two wrongs don’t make a right.”
According to the ACLU, mail will remain unopened and be scanned through a machine that can purportedly detect the presence of drug-laced paper. After 120 days, the temporary emergency rules will expire and be subject to a public hearing.
Robinson celebrated the halt in the sudden policy change.
“RIDOC should be held accountable,” he said. “They basically have been going unchecked about the things they’ve been doing.”
Robinson is also calling on the General Assembly to create an oversight committee to monitor prison policy.
“If policy was not followed, we need to have the right to review,” he said.
This story was updated to clarify what mail was subject will no longer be inspected and to add comment from Rhode Island Department of Corrections spokesperson J.R. Ventura.
