Access to RIDOC Facilities and Data

FACILITIES AND DATA ACCESS IS CURRENTLY UNDER REVIEW. THIS PAGE WILL BE UPDATED ON AN ONGOING BASIS. PLEASE CHECK BACK PERIODICALLY FOR THE MOST CURRENT INFORMATION.

The Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RIDOC) welcomes other state and local agencies, as well as our community partners inside its Adult Correctional Institutions (ACI) to assist the incarcerated population in preparing for successful reentry into our communities. Below, please find an explanation of how required approval(s) may be obtained.

Please note that having a history of incarceration or contact with law enforcement does not automatically exclude anyone from being able to enter ACI facilities; however, each application is reviewed, and decisions regarding access are made on a case-by-case basis.

Physical Access:

Approval for physical access is required when someone wants to enter one of RIDOC's six (6) secure ACI facilities (Intake Service Center, High Security, Maximum Security, Medium Security, Minimum Security and/or Women's Facility) to visit or provide services, such as programming or reentry planning.

For Visits

Visiting an individual requires that you be placed on their visitation list. It is the incarcerated individual's responsibility to add you to their visitation list. Individuals housed at the ACI know the process for getting someone added to their visitation list; however, if they are not sure how to do this, they can ask a staff person for assistance or reference RIDOC's Visits Policy.

For more information on visiting an incarcerated individual at the ACI, including but not limited to details on proper dress, facility visitation schedules and requirements for entry, please see our Visitation page.

Visitors are required to adhere to RIDOC's Visits Policy.

To Provide Services

For those who wish to access ACI facilities to provide approved services to incarcerated individuals, there is a different process to gain approval for entry. Anyone seeking to provide religious or reentry services, programming, etc. to the incarcerated population must complete an Access to Facilities Application (provided below).

  1. The application must be filled out completely and truthfully.
  2. Every applicant must have a "sponsor" for his/her application for entry. Sponsors must be a full-time employee at RIDOC and possess an active blue badge. Part-time staff, contractors, volunteers, interns, etc., cannot sponsor an Access to Facilities Application.
  3. All applicants must pass Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and National Criminal Investigation Center (NCIC) background checks conducted by the RIDOC.
  4. If the application is approved, the applicant's Sponsor will be notified and the Sponsor will assist the applicant with next steps.
  5. For those who have an arrest and/or incarceration history, the Assistant Director of Institutions & Operations (ADIO) or his/her designee will review the information and is the final approving authority of the application. The ADIO will notify the Sponsor of his/her decision.
  6. It is the Sponsor's responsibility to ensure applicants are made aware of their approval or denial for entry. If an applicant is denied entry, the Sponsor will provide a reason for the denial.     

Approval for facility access does not automatically mean the applicant is approved to receive a badge. In many cases, if the applicant is coming in to multiple facilities for extended periods of time, RIDOC may have the person take a photo for the database, and require the person to show their ID upon entry but not issue a physical badge.

Those who wish to enter an ACI facility or facilities on a temporary basis, usually for one day or for a very limited period of time, should fill out the Temporary Access to Facilities Application (provided below).

Anyone who violates law, RIDOC policy or facility-specific rules or procedures, or poses a potential threat to a facility's security may have his/her access privileges suspended temporarily or revoked permanently.

Any person who knowingly provides herein any statements which are false or erroneous, or defective in any important particular and which are intended to mislead may be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, may be imprisoned, for a term not exceeding one year, or fined, an amount not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), pursuant to R.I.G.L § 11-18-1.

Access to ACI Facilities Application

Data Access:

The Rhode Island Department of Corrections takes the safekeeping of incarcerated individuals' data very seriously. Responsible access to and use of RIDOC's data is expected of anyone who has obtained proper permission to do so. Such permission may be the result of contract requirements, to provide services to the incarcerated or reentering population, or by entering into a formal agreement with the Department. In order for access to be granted, individuals must fill out confidentiality forms and agree to adhere to all RIDOC and the state's division of Enterprise Technology Strategy and Services (ETSS) policies and procedures.

While various units within RIDOC are responsible for maintaining data, the Planning & Research Unit serves as the point of contact and resource for RIDOC data requests, except for Access to Public Records (APRA) requests. (For more information on Access to Public Records requests, please visit the link provided.) All requests to conduct research and evaluations at RIDOC (i.e., interviews, surveys, analysis of existing data, etc.) are coordinated and overseen by Planning & Research.

For more information, including a research/data request form, offender statistics and reports, etc., please visit the link provided to the Planning & Research webpage.

If you are looking for publicly accessible information on a specific person currently incarcerated at the RIDOC, please utilize the Incarceration Search function at the link provided.

Anyone who violates law, RIDOC policy or procedures regarding the proper access, use, transfer, sharing and/or security of data may have his/her access privileges suspended temporarily or revoked permanently.

Any person who knowingly provides herein any statements which are false or erroneous, or defective in any important particular and which are intended to mislead may be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction, may be imprisoned, for a term not exceeding one year, or fined, an amount not exceeding one thousand dollars ($1,000), pursuant to R.I.G.L § 11-18-1.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

This process will depend on the concern/issue. The person may be spoken to by facility staff directly or they may go through the person’s RIDOC manager or Sponsor to handle the concern.

Suspension or revocation of access generally happens when someone does not follow RIDOC policies and procedures (for example, bringing in an unauthorized item, displays boundary issues or is misusing data other than for the approved intended purpose, etc.), and when the behavior doesn’t change after past attempts to correct it. If it’s a matter that prompts such a suspension or revocation and is determined by RIDOC to be severe, prior warnings may not be utilized before access is suspended or revoked.

Note: Temporary suspension vs. permanent revocation will be dependent upon the severity of the issue and the history of behavior of the person in question.

Staff will communicate directly with the person, and/or through the person’s RIDOC manager or Sponsor who will relay the information to the person.

While there is no formal appeal process, the person may write to the Assistant Director of Institutions & Operations (ADIO) asking him/her to review the decision. The ADIO will consider all factors relevant to the suspension or revocation when determining whether to accommodate an appeal.

This will be considered on a case-by-case basis; however, we strongly encourage applicants to be as honest as possible. It is better to disclose a crime and explain the circumstances rather than to say nothing at all.

All persons seeking to gain physical access to RIDOC facilities must be run through BCI/NCIC. Access is granted or denied on a case-by-case basis. Generally, incarceration history is reviewed and considerations such as whether they served time in Rhode Island or out-of-state and how long ago, will be assessed.

If someone served time in Rhode Island, factors such as, do they still have enemies or affiliations with currently incarcerated individuals or if there were other issues during incarceration that could or may still be cause for a safety or security concern. If there are concerns with incarceration history, the Assistant Director of Institutions & Operations (ADIO) makes the final decision as to whether or not to allow access. This decision is communicated to the person through his/her application Sponsor.

Contact Planning & Research via the “Submit New Research Request” form at https://doc.ri.gov/news-info/research-data or send an email to doc.planning@doc.ri.gov.

Certain data may be available via a public records request (https://doc.ri.gov/news-info/access-public-records), however, Access to Public Records Act (APRA) requests are subject to certain limitations and there may be a cost associated with compiling the records.

Aggregate data, especially for grant applications or other collaborative purposes, is generally made available to community organizations (subject to Planning & Research workload and with a reasonable deadline).

For more information, contact Planning & Research via email at doc.planning@doc.ri.gov and visit their webpage at the link provided for more information and to access the data included on that page.

This depends on the type of information being requested. If an incarcerated individual would like a family member or community organization to be able to speak with staff at RIDOC to gain information about them, they must sign a release of information form. Please note that if the information being requested is protected health information (PHI) or personally identifiable information (PII), that information is protected and may not be able to be relayed.

RIDOC staff takes its responsibility of protecting incarcerated individuals from unauthorized and unnecessary disclosures of information very seriously.

Basic incarceration information is available on RIDOC’s “Inmate Search” at the link provided.

While there is no one source from which information can be requested, such requests should be made to the appropriate RIDOC unit. For example, for health information someone should contact Healthcare Services, for information on programming or religion-related inquiries someone should contact Institutional Programming, etc. Each RIDOC unit has an email that can be used to make such requests and inquiries. Those email addresses can be found on the Contact Us page at the link provided.

Access to information about shared clients is granted on an as-needed basis to those agencies who have contracted or entered into a formal agreement with RIDOC, as determined by unit managers who ensure the proper level of access and that all confidentiality forms are signed as required by RIDOC and the state's division of Enterprise Technology Strategy and Services (ETSS).

When possible, RIDOC will work with other parties/groups to write up data sharing/use agreements (DSAs or DUAs) in order to share necessary information regularly. RIDOC will collaborate with the requestor to determine which elements of our collected data will be the most useful.

While information is entered into our database for documentation purposes, RIDOC staff take care to not release the information without signed releases and/or a need for the requesting individual to know, as some of the data can be sensitive.

RIDOC is unable to share client-specific data externally if it involves pending or ongoing litigation.

Access to RIDOC databases will depend on the database. Planning & Research (P&R) is a good starting point because the databases all contain data, which is managed by P&R. Planning & Research will work with the appropriate RIDOC unit regarding access approval or denial. Because this is a highly individualized process, it is best to reach out via email doc.planning@doc.ri.gov.

If access is granted, it is granted to an individual or individuals within the organization, not the organization as a whole. Extensive paperwork must be signed, including confidentiality agreements, and the unit manager must make the individual aware of all the policies and procedures surrounding their database access. Someone's database log-in information is not transferrable to anyone else, including others in the organization.

Given the span and sensitivity of the data available in these databases, full access may not be possible, and community organizations should clearly outline the scope of the work they are doing, the information required, and the need to obtain this data from a RIDOC database.