Bills To Close Wyatt Detention Facility Get RI Senate Hearing

PROVIDENCE, RI — A Rhode Island Senate committee hearing drew testimony from dozens of advocates who expressed support for a slate of prison reform bills introduced by Sen. Jonathon Acosta, the Central Falls Democrat.

The measures were heard Monday before a joint meeting of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Senate Finance Committee. The corrections bills in their entirety would effectively shut down the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls when the prison's contract with the city expires.

Senate Bill 399 would repeal a state law that allows private detention facilities to operate in a contractual arrangement with municipalities. It would also prevent reciprocal agreements where Rhode Island prisoners are sent out-of-state, and vice-versa. S-248 would ban financial institutions from investing in private detention centers or their affiliates; S-394 would require twice-yearly safety inspections of Wyatt; and S-399 would prohibit contracts between detention facilities in Rhode Island and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Acosta started with a misstep, but recovered. When first recognized by Sen. Cynthia Coyne, chairwoman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, he started to deliver a history lesson about the nation's approach to criminal justice and its impact upon people of color. Coyne eventually interrupted him.

"Mr. Acosta, please address the bills," she said. Acosta, a freshman senator from District 16, complied.

Sen. Acosta introduces a slate of prison reform bills on May 17, 2021. (Screen shot, Capitol TV)

Acosta described his legislation and Coyne fielded phone calls from witnesses, most of whom said that Wyatt should be shut down.

David Veliz of the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty was among those to call in and express support for the bills. "We are here to speak out against profiteering from the incarceration of human beings, against the criminalization of the immigration process, and against a broken and unequal justice system," Veliz said.

Todd Le, a teacher in the Central Falls public schools, submitted written testimony. "Places like the Wyatt Detention Center imprison people in unsafe conditions and disproportionately target immigrants and people of color," he wrote. "In a city that is predominantly Black and Latinx, these inhumane institutions have no place in Central Falls or anywhere."

James Lombardi, chairman of the Central Falls Detention Facility Corporation, submitted written testimony opposing Acosta's bills. He said that a five-member public board, appointed by the Mayor of Central Falls, oversees Wyatt. He noted that the facility houses federal inmates and immigrants detained under a contract with ICE. Lombardi asserted that Wyatt, with its bondholder investors, is not a "private, for-profit prison." He questioned whether the state has authority to implement Acosta's legislation, and warned that any attempt to invalidate the ICE contract could lead to legal jeopardy.

Patricia A. Coyne-Fague, director of the Rhode Island Department of Corrections, wrote a letter opposing S-399, the bill that would do away with municipal detention facility corporations. Coyne-Fague wrote that the RIDOC houses some detainees from Wyatt and receives about $700,000 in revenue for doing so — revenue that would be lost were the bill to become law. She defended the practice of sending prisoners out-of-state when appropriate, referring to situations where a person's history makes it dangerous for them to stay.

"Without the ability to transfer RI inmates out of state the remain in protective custody for the duration of their incarceration — a classification that is highly restrictive, with limited opportunities for programming and outside activity," Coyne-Fague wrote.

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Rep. Joshua Giraldo, also a Central Falls Democrat, has submitted companion legislation in the House. Acosta thanked him and others working on criminal justice reform. The two lawmakers spoke out at news conference in March. “Justice shouldn’t be a moneymaking endeavor,” said Acosta.

Last year, the Boston Globe reported that Wyatt, with its 770 beds, owed $130 million to its bondholders and was mired in "controversy, debt, and legal battles." In August 2019, the facility made national headlines when a correctional officer drove into a group of protesters who were demanding that Wyatt stop accepting ICE detainees. The facility has long been the target of social justice advocates.

Several other bills were heard Monday, including a measure that would ban hairstyle discrimination by expanding the definition of race to include traits historically associated with race, including hair texture and protective hairstyles.

The seven bills were held for further study.

Also at the joint hearing, Coyne-Fague presented RIDOC's FY 2021 supplemental and FY 2022 budgets, with a focus on probation and parole reforms. Progressive elements of the RIDOC budget drew statements of praise and support from groups including the ACLU and the office of the Rhode Island Public Defender.