Families paid Securus just over $795,000 for ACI calls and video visits in 2025, by RIDOC’s count, and the bills that would have eased that cost and limited solitary died in committee. The lawmakers and governor who decide their next try are on Tuesday’s ballot.
Rhode Islanders vote Tuesday, Nov. 3, for governor, attorney general and 113 seats in the General Assembly, and under state law the people serving felony sentences at the Adult Correctional Institutions in Cranston will not be among them. That is not a policy anyone has to guess at. R.I. Gen. Laws ยง 17-9.2-3 says a person loses the right to vote only because of incarceration upon a felony conviction, that the right comes back on discharge, and that the Department of Corrections must hand people written notice and voter registration forms when they walk out. Read it carefully, the way a lawyer would: the loss is tied to a felony conviction, which is not the same as saying everyone behind those walls is off the rolls.
The numbers behind the walls are not small. The Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC) reported an average total population of 2,344 in calendar year 2024, a count that leaves out people held out of state or on home confinement. The same report lists 25 people serving life without parole as of Dec. 31, 2024, with 84% of them housed at maximum security…