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Picture taken from Creative Commons courtesy Flickr user Jef Nickerson.

As you probably already know, the loophole for legalized indoor prostitution was closed last Tuesday when Governor Carcieri signed the bill brought to him by the General Assembly. Amy Kempe, a spokesperson for  the governor, says the ban was necessary because it reflected poorly on the state.

Kempe: “Rhode Island was the only state, outside of a few counties in Nevada that had legalized prostitution. and that is a black mark on the state of Rhode Island’s reputation.”

Lieutenant Mike Correias of the Providence Narcotics and Licensing unit, says the police supported the ban because they suspected that the prostitution could be linked to other problems.

Correias: “It’s fair to say that there is some kind of organized crime behind it, whether its Asian organized crime centered in NYC. There’s a tremendous amount of money being made.”

While it was clear that the legal status of indoor prostitution was an unintentional loophole for the past several years, what is less clear is the impact that the ban has had on those whose livelihoods depended it. Are all indoor prostitutes victims of sex trafficking and abuse?  Stephanie, a pseudonym, is a twenty five year old mother who runs her own service.

Stephanie: “I’m a single mother, at one point I didn’t have money to feed my kids or myself, so that’s when I got into the business and that’s how i’ve been supporting myself and my kids.”

But since the ban was signed into law, she’s stopped, and she’s left with very few options, especially in this economy.

Stephanie: “Now that the law’s been passed, i’ve stopped but I also have no money and I’m not sure of what to do now. I’m looking for a job, but it’s kinda impossible. R unning out of food, so it’s a sucky situation.”

When asked about people in this situation, Amy Kempe insists that people like Stephanie have other options.

Kempe: “There are a number of resources available to assist individuals during economic recession. Be it food stamps, be it public assistance, be it job training programs.”

Kempe went on to mention specific training programs in healthcare, customer service, and biotechnology. But the single mother of a two and seven year old says the quality of life for her family is dramatically worse when she relies on government services.

Stephanie: “I struggled on a daily basis. I barely had enough to pay the bills and the rent. Then when I started in the business, my kids never went hungry another day. I mean, we went from living on peanut butter sandwiches and noodles to having nice normal meals – breakfast, lunch, and dinner – and being able take my kids and just live a good life. Now I’m not really sure what I’m going to do.”

And she says she’s not the only one in this situation.

Stephanie: “Almost every girl I know that has ever been in the business has children and this is how they support, you know, their lifestyle. And a lot of the girls I know go to school – so the way it’s affecting me, it’s going to affect them. Basically paying the rent and making sure the kids are fed. It’s gonna be hard.”

Whether or not the ban on prostitution will be good or bad for the state and its residents, what about the issue of enforcement? Lieutenant Correias had this to say.

Correias: “It’s not legal any more to go into someone’s home or their home or a hotel room and engage in prostitution. It’s not legal anymore. So they should be prepared that if they’re going to continue that they may get arrested.”

But he added that he doesn’t see this new law as the most important issue on the agenda of his Narcotics and Organized Crime unit.

Correias: “It’ll be our responsibility to enforce it, but no we’re not getting any more manpower or working more hours. If we were to have any reason to believe that there’s human trafficking involved certainly we’ll move it up the priority scale, but the reduction of violent crime and gun violence specifically will always be our number one priority.”

And so while the Governor’s office is totally intolerant of prostitutes like Stephanie,

Kempe: “It doesn’t matter if the state is in an economic downturn or not, prostitution is illegal. It destroys the fabrics of our community.”

the de facto reality of the situation is summed up by Lieutenant Correias,

Correias: “I’m you’re looking at — this crime, it’s a misdemeanor. I mean you’re not going to see a lot of people going to jail for prostitution. We’ll never rid the city of prostitution.”

With that knowledge in hand, one can’t help but wonder the same thing as our single mother of two -

Stephanie: “I just didn’t see how it was necessary because I didn’t see how it was harming anyone. I thought there were bigger issues that needed to be tackled in the state like the unemployment rate and the crime. But I guess this was something they thought was necessary.”

For WBRU News, I’m Johnny Lin.

The BRU Brief airs weekly on 95.5 FM, recapping the week’s top local, national, and international stories, and taking a closer look at the issues of the day in Southern New England. Tune in on Monday nights at 11:00, or stream live at news.wbru.com.