09:01 AM EDT on Thursday, May 26, 2005

BY MICHAEL CORKERY
Journal Staff Writer

During his stay at the Adult Correctional Insitutions, Esteban Carpio, the man charged with killing a Providence police detective, may not be allowed personal visits or phone calls for more than 2 1/2 years.

Correctional officials said because of his unruly and violent behavior since arriving at the ACI in Cranston on April 17, Carpio is slated to spend the next 1,004 days in "disciplinary confinement."

Carpio, 26, is awaiting trial on a murder charge and has access to his lawyers, both in person and by phone. But as punishment for acting out at the ACI, Carpio faces years without visits and calls from his family and friends.

"Visits are a privilege, not a right," said Department of Corrections spokeswoman Joy Fox.

Carpio has been disciplined for 16 separate offenses during his one-month incarceration at the ACI, including assault on corrections officers, spitting at staff and disobeying an order not to exercise.

Fox said that his sanctions could be reduced if his behavior improves. "But we are nowhere near reviewing anything with him," she said.

Carpio is 1 of only 3 of the state's approximately 3,400 inmates sanctioned with no personal visits for more than two years. The average stay in disciplinary confinement is less than 60 days.

Rhode Island correctional officials and prison experts nationally say restricting visits is an effective means of controlling inmate behavior and maintaining order throughout a prison.

Mental health and civil liberties advocates say they recognize the need for discipline, but question whether a ban on visits extending more than two years goes too far.

"I don't know if in the long run that adds to safety of correctional officers when you put those kind of punishments in place," said Elizabeth Earls, the president of the Rhode Island Council of Community Mental Health Organizations, who has experience with the prison population in Massachusetts.

"I am sure it breaks someone's spirit," she said. "How that manifests itself is anyone's guess."

Carpio is being housed at the ACI's Intake Center. There's no television, radio or reading material allowed in his cell. "He has his sheets, his mattress and his pillow," Fox said. He's under 24-hour video surveillance.

Fox said Carpio has met with his lawyers and a psychologist, as part of his legal case.

Fox would not say whether Carpio is receiving mental health services at the ACI, citing privacy reasons. She said Carpio, like all inmates, has access to mental health care.

"The overriding question, which I don't know the answer to, is what is Mr. Carpio's mental state," said Steven Brown, the executive director of Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union.

In the days that followed the shooting death of Detective Sgt. James L. Allen, Carpio's family and friends claimed that he suffered from mental illness. Since then, his immediate family and lawyers have repeatedly declined comment.

If Carpio is mentally ill, being shut off from family contact, "is likely only to exacerbate the problem," Brown said.

Asked about that possibility, Fox said: "We don't choose who gets sent to us or the condition they are sent to us in. Our priority is custody and control of the inmates."

As for Carpio, Fox said, "It's not unheard of, an inmate having adjustment issues, and this could be characterized as that."

"You have to keep in mind this is his first time here," she added. "And he's here with a serious charge. He very well could realize this is a very serious charge."

Fox said that if the ACI staff determined that an inmate had serious mental health issues, he could be moved to a forensic unit run by the Department of Mental Health, Retardation and Hospitals.

Carpio's sanctions are drawn from departmental procedures for disciplining inmates.

Those procedures, which were revised in January, define several categories of offenses and establish a range of punishment, from 1 day to 365 days. An inmate is entitled to an administrative hearing for each sanction. Lengthier sanctions trigger reviews by the warden and, if necessary, the assistant director of institutions and operations.

"Our system of law and order is a lot fairer than their own system," Jim Weeden, the warden of the ACI's high security unit, said of the inmates.

"I am sure they would rather go before my hearing officer than one of their peers."

For longer-term inmates, the ACI has a behavior modification program that helps them deal with anger issues that might cause them to act out. If an inmate's behavior improves through this program, the sanctions can be reduced and visitations restored.

No such program exists at the intake center where Carpio is being housed while his case moves through the courts, Fox said. At the intake center, Carpio has access to health-care staff and a chaplain.

Carpio's troubles at the ACI began six days after his arrival. Fox provided a chronology of his alleged offenses, but would not detail the sanctions he received for each offense, citing pending criminal charges stemming from the most serious incident.

On April 23, Carpio was cited for being verbally abusive to the staff.

On April 24, he was cited for trying to flood his cell by stuffing clothing down the toilet.

On April 25, Carpio was cited for vandalism for ripping and eating his blanket. Later that day, he was cited for disobeying an order: He was exercising even though the medical staff advised him not to because of his back injuries.

On April 26, Carpio allegedly assaulted three correctional officers, leaving one with a broken jaw and injured neck. He was cited for vandalism for breaking a radio during the struggle. He was later cited for spitting in the face of another correctional officer.

On May 2, as he prepared for his second court appearance since his arrest, Carpio was too close to his cell door and had to be pepper sprayed. He was cited for disobedience.

On May 7, he was cited for vandalism for tearing up his blanket and trying to flood his cell.

On May 8, he was cited for kicking his cell door and trying to push it open. That day he was also cited for trying to flush his clothes down the toilet.

On May 10, Carpio asked for bottled water and was denied. He began banging his head against the wall. He was cited for causing a disruption because a cell extraction team had to be called. He was cuffed and also cited for trying to knock a pepper spray can out of the hand of one of the correctional officers.

His next court appearance is scheduled for June 20.