I work for a social service agency that assists ex-offenders. Last month, several of the women we assist applied for expungement of previous prostitution related offenses. ALL met the current criteria (had only one offense), and ALL WERE DENIED in the 6th District by one VERY prejudice and lousy jurist.
It is sad that this law that was changed with the mantra of “Helping the women” has not helped one iota.
OMG moment of the day
Oh My God. I have been out of commission for a few days doing my civic duty…Jury Duty! So I haven’t been blogging. Actually I haven’t been blogging or saying much on this topic lately because not much has been going on. The law passed last November with pressure to “Help the Women and Children” and this past week we helped them…by arresting them.
Until the details of the arrests come out, it will be impossible to say for certain whether there is any evidence of human trafficking in the spas where the arrests occurred. All three of the women were released by the judge on bail, meaning that the state did not hold any of them for interrogation as part of a human trafficking investigation or place them in protective custody as potential victims of trafficking. Proponents of the legislation previously argued that arresting women for indoor sex work would allow the state to remove them and protect them from dangerous situations.
Details of the arrests came out today in the Providence Journal. Previously I was incorrect when I said there were no translators. That was what I had heard “through the grapevine”, but the Journal reports:
Federal immigration officials and advocates from Day One, a sexual assault and trauma resource center in Providence, also interviewed the women who were working at the spas to determine if they are victims of sex-trafficking, Correia said.
“We weren’t able to get any information to lead us to think they were being held against their will,” Correia said.
As for the OMG moment of today, I decided to see what the men were saying about what was going on in the spas. I went back to a website where they rate the women. Think of this website is the 21 century version of a men’s bathroom wall. You can’t believe half of what is said on this website, it is not for those who value women as more than sexual objects. On if you check the forums in Rhode Island you will see a very interesting conversation going on started by one user named “Donna Hughes”. Now, I don’t believe this is the real Donna Hughes, but some of the people in the site did believe that it was and what followed was crazy. What is very ironic is the fact that the real Donna Hughes uses this board for her priPS in Rhode Island. I guess this should teach both sides one very valuable lesson…always check your sources!
Raids Started.. 
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The first raids have started in the Providence spas since the law changed in November. These are not the first arrests with the new prostitution law. The first arrests involved stings led by the RI State Police where14 clients and customers (most famously was Pat Patriot, the New England Patriot’s Mascot) were set up using craigslist and the Providence Pheonix. These arrests that occured on Thursday night happened in two Providence spas. Three women were arrested and one manager. From the Providence Journal
PROVIDENCE, R.I. – Providence police charged four women on prostitution charges Friday after conducting undercover operations at two spas. It’s the first raid of an alleged brothel since a change in Rhode Island law last November made indoor prostitution illegal. No clients were arrested.