Interstate Travel

Typically, if someone on probation wants to leave the state, they have to seek permission from the Court or the RI Department of Corrections (“RI DOC”) to do so.  That entails filing a motion with the Court (or filing the appropriate request with the RI DOC), explaining why the probationer wants to leave the state, where they plan to go, and how long they plan to be there.  If the probationer has a good reason to leave the state (to visit family, to work out-of-state, etc.), he or she will likely be given permission to travel out of state. 

 If the probationer is a sex offender, however, they have little to no chance of being allowed to leave the state, no matter their reason for doing so.

 Officially, the RI DOC established a policy on November 28, 2000 which banned out-of-state travel for all sex offender probationers, with the following 5 exceptions: (1) one of the probationer’s out-of-state family members dies or becomes seriously ill; (2) the travel is “appropriate to treatment goals” (according to the probationer’s therapist); (3) if the probationer isn’t a risk to the community, and was employed in MA or CT prior to 11/28/00, he or she can continue to travel to MA or CT to continue that employment; (4) if the probationer needs to travel to another state to obtain medical treatment or a consultation; or (5) to attend religious services, provided that the probationer isn’t a risk to the community, and has been attending the church/mosque/synagogue for at least 1 year.  See Pelland v. Rhode Island, 317 F.Supp.2d 86, 89 (D.R.I. 2004).  Other than those exceptions, a sex offender probationer cannot leave the state, even for same-day travel or vacation.  Id.  Furthermore, the policy does not distinguish between the types of sex offenses, or even the individual probationers.  Id.

 The RI DOC is afraid that sex offender probationers will travel to another state and re-offend, and that RI will be to blame for letting them commit these new crimes. 

 Yet all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands adhere to the Interstate Compact on Adult Offender Supervision (“ICAOS”).  See “ICAOS History,” available at http://www.interstatecompact.org/About/History/tabid/58/Default.aspx.  Under the ICAOS, RI can send one of its parolees/probationers to another state and know that the receiving state will continue to supervise him or her.  RI would also have permission to go into another state and apprehend the parolee/probationer if it needed to bring him or her back.  So if the ICAOS is firmly in place, why the burdensome restrictions on sex offender probationers’ ability to travel?

For more information about legal representation of those charged with sex crimes, please visit: http://katherinegodinlaw.com/areas-of-law/sex-crimes/

Katherine E. Godin, Esq.

The Law Office of Katherine Godin, Inc.

615 Jefferson Blvd.

Warwick, RI 02886

Phone: (401) 274-2423

Fax: (401) 489-7580

Email: kg@katherinegodinlaw.com

Website: http://www.katherinegodinlaw.com