Rhode Island § 10-13-27 - Relief of Poor Debtors

§ 10-13-27. Petition for discharge by prisoner unable to pay tort judgment.

Whenever any person shall have been imprisoned for six (6) months upon a writ of arrest, mesne process, execution, or upon surrender or commitment by bail in any action on any penal statute, actions sounding in tort, including actions for possession of land or trespass to land in which title to the land is not in dispute, or other civil action in which such person is not now entitled to his or her discharge, upon being admitted to take the poor debtor’s oath, the person so imprisoned may petition the justice of the district court in the county in which he or she is imprisoned, setting forth that he or she is detained in prison, the term of his or her imprisonment, the cause of his or her committal, and the name and residence of the person at whose suit he or she was committed, and that he or she is unable to pay the judgment upon which he or she is committed, and to pay his or her prison charges: provided, however, that any person who shall have been imprisoned as provided in this chapter upon a writ issued out of a district court or upon execution wherein the debt or damages and costs shall not exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000) may petition as provided in this chapter after ninety (90) days of imprisonment.