RI shelter agrees not to limit number of registrants allowed

By Providence Journal staff . . . The ACLU of Rhode Island and the state have settled a lawsuit over a state law capping at 10 percent the occupancy of registered sex offenders at the Harrington Hall homeless shelter in Cranston. The law had been set to go into effect on Jan. 1 of this year, and resulted from displeasure among…

Read More

Barbaric consequences to “show me yours and I’ll show you mine” in a digital world

By Sandy. . . Imagine being fourteen years old today, in a world where technology is changing the rules faster than they are being written. John Grasso, a criminal defense attorney and a former police officer, has captured that situation with the brilliant and apt metaphor of stepping into quicksand. You don’t know it’s there until you are in it,…

Read More

Give me your cold and homeless — but not your cold, homeless sex offenders

By Sandy . . . In September, as Hurricanes Irma and Juan raced across the Gulf Coast states dumping tons of water and destroying homes and lives, advocates geared up for what they knew would be a major battle, and they did not gear up in vain. The treatment of those on the sex offender registry seeking shelter proved as discriminating,…

Read More

Group urges RI governor to veto legislation restricting SO access to shelters

By Sophie Culpepper . . . Last month, a bill that would cap the proportion of registered sex offenders in homeless shelter beds at 10 percent for shelters whose capacity exceeds 50 people passed in the Rhode Island State House. A coalition of activists are now asking via petition that Gov. Gina Raimondo veto the bill, arguing that the legislation…

Read More

Transparent & Accessible: NARSOL Board fields questions

NARSOL in Action’s teleconference call of 1/19 was well attended and very informative. Board of Directors members present were Brenda, Jon, Larry, Peter, Robin, and Sandy. Georgia attorney Barbara Gail was also there to help Peter Marana (also an attorney) and Larry in discussing legal matters. Most of the program was guest-hosted by Chris Rainbolt of Texas Voices, with Chris…

Read More

Boogie man is still out there!

By Sandy…. Byron Deweldon is not the poster boy for one-trial learning. He has several sexual assault convictions behind him and was civilly committed for eight years. But he was released from civil commitment last year. That means that he was found no longer to be at a dangerous risk of re-offending. He could live in the community, monitored, as…

Read More