NEW: Inmate Held at ACI - Despite Being Paroled - Now Being Released After ACLU Lawsuit

NEW: Inmate Held at ACI - Despite Being Paroled - Now Being Released After ACLU Lawsuit

After the Rhode Island ACLU sued the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (DOC) this week, the DOC will now release from custody a man that ACLU attorneys argued was unlawfully being held in prison.

Under a stipulation signed by Superior Court Judge Robert Krause and entered Friday, the DOC will release from custody inmate Robert McKinney, who ACLU attorneys argued was being held wrongfully in prison despite a unanimous decision by the Rhode Island Parole Board to release him on supervised parole.

“We are very happy that, with the cooperation of the DOC, Mr. McKinney can be lawfully released from custody without protracted legal action in the courts. We look forward to addressing the numerous other cases of similarly situated inmates with the DOC, hopefully with timely resolution," said cooperating attorney Lisa Holley. 

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The habeas corpus petition filed on Tuesday claimed that the DOC changed his parole eligibility date decades after McKinney began serving time on murder and conspiracy charges, and that this change would have forced him to spend at least three extra years in prison despite a unanimous Parole Board decision made in May 2019 that he is qualified for release from custody now.

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The controversy was generated by the DOC’s unannounced decision to change the way it calculates parole eligibility dates for individuals serving consecutive sentences for their crimes, and to apply the change retroactively.

The stipulation does not address the legality of the DOC’s policy change, but the DOC does acknowledge that McKinney is “eligible for release to the community on the terms set forth by the Parole Board and without the need or requirement to serve additional time in the institution before such release to the community.”

With the resolution of McKinney’s case, the ACLU is reviewing a further challenge to the DOC’s policy application, as it is harming dozens of other inmates who might otherwise be eligible for parole consideration.

ACLU cooperating attorney Labinger added: “We are encouraged that the DOC has recognized and appropriately begun to address the adverse impact of its policy change and look forward to working, hopefully collaboratively with DOC, to fix the issue as to all impacted.” The stipulation and related documents in the case can be found here.