U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell rules that 15 years ago the Rhode Island Department of Corrections unilaterally raised the limit on punitive solitary confinement from 30 days to a year.

PROVIDENCE — A federal judge ruled this week that the state Department of Corrections is failing to comply with a longstanding court order limiting the time an inmate can be held in solitary confinement to 30 days.

U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. found Tuesday that the Department of Corrections "unilaterally and substantively" changed the so-called Morris Rules in 2005 when it instituted a policy that prisoners could be held in disciplinary segregation for 31 days to a year on a single offense. McConnell faulted the department for not first seeking the approval of the court and ordered that the prison come into compliance with the rules within 30 days.

Richard Lee Paiva, 47, who is serving life for stabbing his mother to death, challenged the department's compliance with the rules after being held in disciplinary segregation for 60 days on a single booking in 2014.

"It is undisputed that the RIDOC violated the Morris Rules when Mr. Paiva was given more than thirty days in disciplinary segregation and when a single officer heard his appeal of the discipline instead of a three-member panel," McConnell wrote.

The ruling won praise from the state affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, which has agreed to represent Paiva and other similarly situated inmates going forward.

"From my perspective and the ACLU's perspective, if there's one person in protracted segregation, it's one too many," said Lynette J. Labinger, who with Sonja L. Deyoe argued for Paiva and other prisoners. "A long time ago, the Department of Corrections decided it was no longer under the obligation to comply with the Morris Rules."

Labinger cited findings that holding an individual in isolation is equivalent to torture. An internal corrections memorandum dated Jan. 3 documents Warden Jeffrey Aceto sentencing an inmate to 573 days of discipline.

"We think that long terms in isolation are bad for everyone, and we have an opportunity to take a fresh look," Labinger said.

The Department of Corrections stood by its policies Wednesday.

“The Morris Rules were created in 1970 to address classification, discipline and other matters that affect the total RIDOC population. However, by today’s operational standards these rules are obsolete and outdated," corrections spokesman J.R. Ventura said in an email. "The department has evolved beyond the correctional practices of the 1970s and the standards listed in the Morris Rules. The DOC’s current practices and procedures are constitutionally appropriate and in many circumstances provides greater benefits to the population than those of the 1970s Morris Rules.”

The department is reviewing McConnell's ruling to determine the state's next step, he said.

The Morris Rules were established in 1972 under a court-approved agreement between corrections officials and lawyers for inmates. The rules require that a prisoner receive a written complaint about any alleged offense that is investigated by a superior officer, as well as a hearing before a three-member disciplinary board. The rules cap the amount of time spent in punitive segregation at 30 days.

A year after the rules were put in place, a riot broke out at the Adult Correctional Institutions, prompting the prison to suspend the rules without the approval of the court. A federal judge determined that the original agreement precluded the department from summarily suspending the rules after inmates asked that they be reinstated.

In upholding the court in that case, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals chastised corrections for not seeking approval from the court and simply determining on its "own initiative to scrap the [Morris] Rules and, in effect, to disregard the obligations imposed by the consent decree," McConnell wrote.

McConnell ruled Tuesday that the agreement's terms remain "unaltered and in full force and effect." The judge, however, rejected Paiva's request that the department be held in contempt due to the ambiguity of case law relating to the rules through the years.

Cumberland police found Rita Paiva, 57, dead on March 30, 2009, on her blood-soaked bed at the 64 Baldwin St. home she shared with her son. She had been stabbed 72 times. An ex-con with a history of domestic violence, Richard Paiva was sentenced to life in prison, plus a consecutive 15 years as a habitual offender, in her death.

Deyoe delivered news of the ruling Tuesday to Paiva, who argued the case largely by himself.

"Mr. Paiva was incredibly happy," Deyoe said Wednesday. "Mr. Paiva did this work. Really, kudos to him."

Though Paiva has been subjected to more than 30 days in isolation, Deyoe said he was propelled to pursue the case due to his concern for the overall prison population, Deyoe said.

"He's concerned with people being held in segregation more than anything," Deyoe said. "He's been there and he has really grave concerns about how this affects people."

— kmulvane@ providencejournal.co­m

(401) 277-7417

On Twitter: @kmulvane