Mental Health Petitions

The ACLU, the R.I. Disability Law Center and the R.I. Council of Community Mental Health Organizations helped persuade the Governor to veto a bill that would have allowed the Mental Health Advocate to petition the court to involuntarily transfer inmates from the ACI to the custody of MHRH. The groups complained that the legislation did not address how inmates who wanted to challenge the proposed transfer would be represented, since the Advocate is the entity designated by law to represent them. The groups also objected to the bill’s failure to give inmates themselves the opportunity to petition for a transfer. In vetoing the bill, the Governor joined in the objections to the conflict of interest problems raised by the bill.