The Rhode Island Department of Corrections maximum security for the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston. Sonja Deyoe, a cooperating attorney with the ACLU of Rhode Island, claims she was required to relinquish legal documents to custodial staff when visiting a client on Oct. 3, 2024. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
Rhode Island prison officials routinely interfere when attorneys are sharing confidential information during visits with clients behind bars, and also confiscate and inspect mail to prisoners in violation of their constitutional rights, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Providence Superior Court by the ACLU of Rhode Island.
That includes withholding mail from a state lawmaker sent to prisoners at the Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) in Cranston asking them to complete a survey relating to the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (DOC) “Solitary Confinement Policy,” the complaint states.
The lawsuit against DOC Director Wayne Salisbury, Jr. and the entire corrections department names two incarcerated men and the Rhode Island Center for Justice as co-plaintiffs: Richard Paiva, a prisoner in the ACI Maximum Security facility and Willie Washington, a prisoner in the Medium Security facility. It claims the state’s prison system informally adopted a new practice governing mail and attorney visits in the past year that the ACLU called “arbitrary, capricious and unregulated actions.”
The DOC’s policy on attorney-client privilege, which can be downloaded from the department’s website, has been in effect since Nov. 9, 2015. The ACLU alleges that DOC officials disregarded a state law outlining the rules and procedures state agencies must follow to update their policies.
The state’s Administrative Procedures Act requires a state agency to 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.
Sonja Deyoe, a cooperating attorney with the ACLU, claims she was required to relinquish legal documents to custodial staff in ACI Maximum Security during an Oct. 3 visit with Paiva to discuss the lawsuit. Deyoe brought with her a preliminary draft of the complaint as well as retainer agreements for her clients to review and sign. The lawsuit claims the staff took the documents out of her presence and Paiva’s before returning them for their attorney-client visit.
Custodial staff in Medium Security did not require access to the legal documents before the visit with Washington, according to the complaint.
“We, as lawyers, have an obligation to maintain privileged communications with our clients,” ACLU attorney Sonja Deyoe said in a statement. “The attorney-client privilege is vital to providing a proper legal representation to any client — it is the bedrock on which our system is formed.”
Department spokesperson J.R. Ventura said in an email Thursday that DOC staff must balance visitation rules with the need for additional security over a reported nationwide spike in drug overdoses in prisons.
“RIDOC takes attorney-client privileges very seriously,” Ventura wrote. “The approved policy states that we can search correspondence for contraband, sealed envelopes will be opened, and the contents will not be read by staff.”
The John J. Moran Medium Security Facility at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston. (Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)
The lawsuit cites an incident involving surveys mailed last February by Rep. David Morales, a Providence Democrat, to prisoners asking about their experiences in solitary confinement, which the DOC refers to as restrictive housing. Surveys were reportedly sent in envelopes that identified Morales as a member of the General Assembly, which is considered privileged mail under department policy.
RIDOC staff allegedly intercepted Morales’ letters, inspected them and withheld them for about two weeks before distributing them.
“I had heard from certain inmates that they received some of my letters that had potentially been tampered — this lawsuit highlights what has actively been happening,” Morales said in an interview Thursday. “I am shocked and incredibly disappointed that the Department of Corrections would violate the rights of inmates.”
Under department rules, incoming privileged mail may be opened and inspected in the presence of the prisoner to whom it is addressed. Staff are prohibited from reading the contents of prisoners’ mail.
But in the last year, the ACLU alleges DOC staff now routinely take, inspect and copy privileged communication outside of the prisoners’’ presence — which would violate the internal policy.
Ventura declined to comment on the allegation involving Morales’ survey.
The ACLU claims the DOC’s interference with attorney-client privilege and mail delivery violate prisoners’ rights under the First, Sixth and 14th amendments of the U.S. Constitution and the Rhode Island Constitution.
The ACLU’s lawsuit also challenges a policy announced last April that took effect in June requiring adults coming to the ACI to visit visitors to have their photograph taken, with images maintained in the DOC’s database. Some visitors have expressed concerns to the ACLU about how their photos might be used and shared.
The ACLU said DOC officials disregarded the state law for updating policies when it adopted the photo requirement for social visits. The suit is asking the court to declare that the DOC’s actions unlawful and issue a court order halting the continued use of their practices.
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