Rhode Island General Laws Title 13. Criminals--Correctional Institutions § 13-8.1-3. Definitions

(1) “ Aging prisoner” means an individual who is sixty-five (65) years of age or older and suffers from functional impairment, infirmity, or illness.

(2) “ Cognitively incapacitated” means suffering from a cognitive condition, such as dementia, that greatly impairs activities that are necessary for independence such as feeding, toileting, dressing, and bathing and renders their incarceration non-punitive and non-rehabilitative.

(3) “ Permanently physically incapacitated” means suffering from a physical condition caused by injury, disease, illness, or persistent vegetative state, that, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, permanently and irreversibly physically incapacitates the individual to the extent that the individual needs help with most of the activities that are necessary for independence, such as feeding, toileting, dressing, and bathing and transferring, or no significant physical activity is possible, or suffering from an incurable, progressive condition that substantially diminishes the individual's capacity to function in a correctional setting.

(4) “ Severely ill” means suffering from a significant and permanent or chronic physical and/or mental condition that: (1) Requires extensive medical and/or psychiatric treatment with little to no possibility of recovery; and (2) Significantly impairs rehabilitation from further incarceration.

(5) “ Terminally ill” means suffering from a condition caused by injury (except self-inflicted injury), disease, or illness which, to a reasonable degree of medical certainty, is a life-limiting diagnosis that will lead to profound functional, cognitive and/or physical decline, and likely will result in death within eighteen (18) months.