Rhode Island.

Rhode Island Constitution, Article I, Section 4.

Slavery shall not be permitted in this state.

Seven words. No exception for crime. No mention of involuntary servitude. The sentence entered the constitution of 1843 and has not changed.

Read from: Rhode Island General Assembly, Constitution, Article I.

No exception to remove. Everything to enforce.

Eight states have removed the punishment exception from their constitutions since 2018. Rhode Island never wrote one. On the text, it stands where those eight now stand: the state constitution carries no authorization for slavery, in any circumstance, for anyone. The network counts nine states in the enforcement phase. Rhode Island is the ninth.

The Thirteenth Amendment's exception still exists as federal law. But a state that prohibits slavery in its own constitution has bound its own custodian, and that is the promise the network holds Rhode Island to. The question in Rhode Island is not whether the words are there. It is whether the Department of Corrections keeps them.

Enforcement in full

What the General Laws say.

The constitution forbids slavery. The statutes below govern what the State may do with a person it holds. They are quoted as published by the General Assembly. Readers may compare them with the definition of slavery the United States accepted in 1929.

Labor of convicted prisoners, R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-56-21(a).

All persons imprisoned in the adult correctional institutions on account of their conviction of any criminal offense ... shall be let or kept at labor therein or on the institution lot or in some building thereon, for the benefit of the state, in any manner, under a contract and subject to any rules, regulations, and discipline that the director, or the director's designee, may make

Pay, R.I. Gen. Laws § 42-56-22(a).

may be paid not more than three dollars ($3.00) a day for every day the person shall labor

Life prisoners, R.I. Gen. Laws § 13-6-1.

Every person imprisoned in the adult correctional institutions for life shall, with respect to all rights of property, to the bond of matrimony and to all civil rights and relations of any nature whatsoever, be deemed to be dead in all respects, as if his or her natural death had taken place at the time of conviction.

Read from: § 42-56-21, § 42-56-22, § 13-6-1, Rhode Island General Assembly.

What the network is doing.

The network's audit instruments measure a custodian against the definition, on the custodian's own written rules and records. Rhode Island's Department of Corrections has been scoped for audit. Findings will be published here when they are ruled. Until then nothing is scored in public.

The plea forms used in Rhode Island's District and Superior Courts have been gathered from the Judiciary's website. No form gathered tells the defendant what status follows conviction.

How the audits work · The New Jersey record, as a model

In Rhode Island.

The tracker lists no coalition contact for Rhode Island. Write to the network.

The record, to read.

• Rhode Island Constitution, Article I, Declaration of Certain Constitutional Rights and Principles, General Assembly
• R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 42-56, Corrections Department, General Assembly
• R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 13-6, Loss of Rights by Prisoners, General Assembly
• Rhode Island Judiciary, plea forms and rules of criminal procedure

• Rhode Island has no ballot question, no vote count, and no amendment campaign, because the exception was never written.
• The constitution is silent on involuntary servitude. The network does not propose adding words. The prohibition on slavery is the instrument.
• The map shows Rhode Island with the states that carry no exception. The tracker lists it in the enforcement phase.