Gloria McDonald Women's Facility

Rhode Island's one women's facility — awaiting-trial through work release in a single building on the ACI campus, with weekend visiting and dorm-based schedules.

Overview

The Gloria McDonald Women’s Facility is Rhode Island’s one facility for women: because the state runs a unified system, every woman held in Rhode Island — awaiting trial, sentenced at medium or minimum custody, or on work release — lives in this single building, opened in December 2010 on the ACI campus. The population runs around 120 to 130 women, and turnover is fast: figures RIDOC presented to state legislators in 2022 put the average pretrial stay around 12 days, with most sentenced releases serving under six months.

The single-building setup is genuinely family-friendly in one way — a woman reclassified from medium custody to work release doesn’t move to a new prison, so the visiting location never changes. The state’s reentry Exit Center operates next door in the Bernadette Building, with reentry staff walking the housing units weekly.

What Makes the Gloria McDonald Facility Different

• Weekend visiting exists here — Saturday and Sunday early-afternoon sessions on the posted schedule, which the men’s Minimum facility doesn’t offer.
• The dorm controls the day: sessions are assigned to A/B, C-High, C-Low, and D dorms on a weekly grid, so knowing the woman’s dorm comes before planning — the facility at (401) 462-0787 confirms it.
• Immediate family can get a one-time courtesy visit with proper ID while background checks finish — and at this facility the checks typically take one to three days.
• Thursday evenings are work-release only — a two-hour session reserved for that population.
• Pregnancy protections are law in Rhode Island: the Healthy Pregnancies for Incarcerated Women Act and a standing regulation that flatly bars leg and waist restraints during labor and delivery. Medical-journal reporting (2018) describes on-site OB/GYN services with continuity of care at Women & Infants Hospital in Providence. No nursery program appears in any RIDOC material — mothers return to the facility after delivery, and newborns do not stay with them.
• An older posted family guide caps visits at two adults and two children at a time — it predates current operations, so treat it as a question to confirm when calling.

Visiting Hours and Procedures

The statewide rules above — the 9-name visiting list, the dress code, ID, and screening — apply here, with the courtesy-visit provision for immediate family. What follows is specific to this facility.

The posted weekly grid is undated, so a confirming call before a first visit is worth the minute. The full approval-list process, dress code, and entry rules are in Visiting in Rhode Island.

Getting There and Parking

The facility is at 20 Fleming Road, deeper inside the ACI campus: I-95 to Route 37 West, the Pontiac Avenue exit, left at the end of the exit, right onto Howard Avenue at the third light, then right at the intersection past Minimum Security toward the women’s buildings. From the west, I-295 to Route 37 East, exiting at Oaklawn Avenue.

RIDOC publishes no visitor parking details for the facility.

Nearby Services

Same campus as the rest of the ACI: the Garden City Center shopping area and Chapel View food options are minutes away, lodging clusters near T.F. Green Airport in Warwick (a Crowne Plaza with free parking among them), Kent Hospital in Warwick runs a 24/7-staffed emergency department, and Rhode Island Hospital in Providence is the state’s only Level I trauma center. For pregnancy-related care, medical-journal reporting describes Women & Infants Hospital in Providence as the continuity partner.

Learn More

For detailed information about visiting and communicating with someone at the ACI:

• Visiting in Rhode Island — the 9-name list, the courtesy visit, and entry rules
• Mail & Packages — addressing mail to P.O. Box 8312
• Phone & Video Calls — the Securus system
• Sending Money — the visiting-list deposit rule and its 30-day grace period
• Medical & Mental Health — pregnancy care, no co-pays while awaiting trial, and the Patient Liaison line
• Transfers — how the one-campus system works