The Rhode Island House of Representatives voted to overturn legislation that sends 17-year-olds to prison in a special session Tuesday night at the State House. The new law mandates that 17-year-olds will once again be tried as minors and sent to Rhode Island's juvenile detention facility, the Training School.
In June, the state legislature passed a law sending 17-year-old delinquents to the state prison in an effort to save money. The average cost of housing someone at the state prison is $40,000 a year, while housing a juvenile at the Training School costs $98,000 a year. State legislators originally didn't realize that housing 17-year-olds in the prison would actually cost more -$104,000 per year - because maximum security housing is required for juveniles.
The June law was overturned Tuesday by a 59-3 vote. Minors who were tried and convicted under the old legislation will still not be sent to the Training School. Juvenile criminal records will be returned to the Family Court and sealed from the public.
Dennys George, who was convicted as a 17-year-old and is now serving five years of probation, told The Herald he had mixed feelings about his future.
"I'm going to be able to have a life and get a job, but I still have to do an adult sentence," said George, who attended the House Finance Committee hearing where legislators crafted the new law. He said his experience in prison was "terrible - traumatizing for a 17-year-old kid."
Executive Director of the Rhode Island ACLU Steven Brown said he was pleased with the outcome of the vote, but said he hopes for further modification of the law to better address "gap kids," or juveniles convicted under and still subject to the old law.
"I hope legislation will make this one of the first orders of business to address the plight of these particular juveniles," Brown said.
Also on the docket was a bill concerning a law that mandates nurses to work overtime shifts. The new bill prevents hospitals from requiring nurses to work mandatory overtime shifts except in emergency situations. The state legislature passed the bill in its last session, but Republican Governor Donald Carcieri '65 vetoed it over the summer.
House Minority Leader Robert Watson, R-Dist. 30, and Rep. Nicholas Gorham, R-Dist. 40, who voted against every veto override Tuesday night, vocally opposed the bill.
Watson made a general appeal to nurses to voluntarily work overtime as a testament to the honor of their profession. He compared nurses to marathon runners who, despite their fatigue, persisted and eventually prevailed.
Rita Brennan, a nurse at Rhode Island Memorial Hospital in Pawtucket, told The Herald that there are two main problems with mandating nurses to work overtime.
"You would much rather have me taking care of you during an eight-hour shift than a 15 hour shift," said Brennan, a member of the United Nurses and Allied Professionals Local 5082. "Many of us have to go home, drive home," she said. "Then we're expected to be back to work in less than eight hours."
Brennan said that the mandatory overtime law compounds the shortage of nurses in Rhode Island. "Because of the mandatory overtime law, Rhode Island would not be a state young nurses would want to come to," she said. "We can almost single-handedly thank Governor Carcieri for the nurse-staffing problem in Rhode Island."
When the veto override was passed by a 60-6 vote, many nurses in the gallery, some holding signs, stood and cheered.
Gorham, who stood up to argue against every proposed veto override bill, including the nurse-staffing legislation, said he was frustrated that House Democrats seemed to cater only to unions and not to the state's economy and residents. "We're not going to have to go trick-or-treating on our constituents on Halloween because we're pulling all the tricks on them today!" Gorham said to the legislature.
Gorham said Tuesday's meeting was counterproductive, as it introduced bills that could add to the state's $450 million debt, and make Rhode Island even less business-friendly than it is today. Democrats, who have a House majority of 60-13, seemed largely unconcerned with Gorham's comments, talking among themselves while he spoke.
