| R 281 |
| 2021 -- S 0245 SUBSTITUTE A Enacted 06/01/2021 |
| S E N A T E R E S O L U T I O N |
| CREATING A SPECIAL LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION TO STUDY JUSTICE REINVESTMENT PROPOSALS AND PROVIDE RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REDUCING THE INCARCERATION OF WOMEN |
Introduced By: Senators Kallman, Quezada, Pearson, McCaffrey, DiMario, Valverde, Coyne, Mack, Miller, and Acosta |
| Date Introduced: February 10, 2021 |
| WHEREAS, Rhode Island is actively striving towards investing in community services in |
| a way that decreases crime, recidivism, and incarceration; and |
| WHEREAS, Rhode Island will be best able to ensure a safe and just community by |
| investing in educational, health, and social services that will decrease the conditions that lead to |
| criminal activity; and |
| WHEREAS, Rhode Island is committed to community safety through a combination of |
| dedicated law enforcement, crime prevention, and restorative justice measures; and |
| WHEREAS, Rhode Island is focused on public safety through the maintenance of a |
| balanced correctional system of institutional and community-based programs that provide |
| rehabilitative options to help facilitate successful reentry; and |
| WHEREAS, There is strong evidence that successful community programs can |
| effectively reduce crime and incarceration and present viable and financially efficient alternatives |
| to punishment based models; and |
| WHEREAS, The Rhode Island Working Group for Juvenile and Criminal Justice has |
| proposed a number of recommendations for improving and expanding reentry support systems in |
| the areas of corrections, housing, employment, education, and juvenile justice; and |
| WHEREAS, The Justice Reinvestment Working Group established the need and cost- |
| effectiveness of investing in recidivism reduction best practices in ways that will reduce overall |
| correctional costs; and |
| WHEREAS, It is necessary to continue to establish clear plans for funding and |
| implementing the proposals of the Rhode Island Working Group for Juvenile and Criminal |
| Justice, and the Justice Reinvestment Working Group in ways that will allow for greater |
| community investment; and |
| WHEREAS, Women enter prison with very high rates of addiction, trauma, and physical |
| abuse and most women in prison are mothers of children. It is necessary to prioritize the |
| development and launch of expanded diversion and alternatives to incarceration that can help |
| these women recover from these challenges and avoid further incarceration; and |
| WHEREAS, The number of women currently incarcerated at the Adult Correctional |
| Institutions has dramatically fallen over the past twelve (12) months and is far below the |
| maximum capacity of the facility; and |
| WHEREAS, The Gloria McDonald building which serves as the primary women’s prison |
| was originally designed as a Maximum security prison for men and has instead been used as the |
| sole women’s prison for all levels of security, creating significant challenges for the Rhode Island |
| Department of Corrections and the incarcerated women; and |
| WHEREAS, The Department of Corrections has proposed in its FY 21 budget to close |
| the Gloria McDonald for the purpose of reducing its budget; now, therefore be it |
| RESOLVED, That a special legislative commission be and the same is hereby created |
| consisting of fifteen (15) members: three (3) of whom shall be members of the Rhode Island |
| Senate, with not more than two (2) from the same political party, to be appointed by the President |
| of the Senate; one of whom shall be a representative of the Judicial Branch, to be appointed by |
| the Chief Justice; one of whom shall be the Director of the Rhode Island Department of |
| Corrections (DOC), or designee; one of whom shall be the Director of the Department of |
| Behavioral Healthcare Developmental Disabilities and Hospitals (BHDDH), or designee; one of |
| whom shall be the Rhode Island Public Defender, or designee; one of whom shall be the Rhode |
| Island Attorney General, or designee; one of whom shall be the Chair of the Rhode Island Parole |
| Board, or designee; one of whom shall be a former warden of the Rhode Island women’s prison, |
| to be appointed by the President of the Senate; one of whom shall be a representative from |
| OpenDoors, to be appointed by the President of the Senate; one of whom shall be a representative |
| from the Formerly Incarcerated Union of Rhode Island, to be appointed by the President of the |
| Senate; one of whom shall be a representative from the Center for Health and Justice |
| Transformation, to be appointed by the President of the Senate; one of whom shall be a municipal |
| police chief, or designee, appointed by the President of the Senate; and one of whom shall be a |
| representative from the Rhode Island Brotherhood of Correctional Officers, to be appointed by |
| the President of the Senate. |
| In lieu of any appointment of a member of the legislature to a permanent advisory |
| commission, a legislative study commission, or any commission created by a General Assembly |
| resolution, the appointing authority may appoint a member of the general public to serve in lieu |
| of a legislator, provided that the majority leader or the minority leader of the political party which |
| is entitled to the appointment consents to the member of the general public. |
| The purpose of said commission shall be to study the merits and feasibility of justice |
| reinvestment proposals which provide a clear blueprint for community driven public safety, |
| recidivism reduction, lowering public safety spending, and long-term sustainability of |
| investments into community resources and that would reduce the number of women incarcerated |
| in Rhode Island, including, but not limited to, analyzing the feasibility of the Department of |
| Corrections' proposal to close the women’s facility from the perspective of a commitment to |
| justice reinvestment principles. |
| Forthwith upon passage of this resolution, the members of the commission shall meet at |
| the call of the President of the Senate and organize, and shall select a chairperson from among the |
| members. |
| Vacancies in said commission shall be filled in like manner as the original appointment. |
| The membership of said commission shall receive no compensation for their services. |
| All departments and agencies of the state shall furnish such advice and information, |
| documentary and otherwise, to said commission and its agents as is deemed necessary or |
| desirable by the commission to facilitate the purposes of this resolution. |
| The Joint Committee on Legislative Services is hereby authorized and directed to provide |
| suitable quarters for said commission; and be it further |
| RESOLVED, That the commission shall issue an initial report on its findings no later |
| than five (5) months after passage of this resolution, and a following report after twelve (12) |
| months. Said commission shall expire on January 5, 2023. |
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| LC001373/SUB A |
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