R.I. Gen. Laws § 10-13-1: Application to take poor debtor’s oath.

Except as is otherwise provided by § 10-13-2, any person who shall be imprisoned for debt whether on a writ of arrest issued at the commencement of an action, mesne process, or execution, or on execution awarded against him or her as defendant in any action to recover the possession of land or trespass to land, in which title to the land was in dispute between the parties, may complain to the justice of any district court in the county where the person shall be committed that he or she has no estate, real or personal, wherewith to support himself or herself in a correctional institution or to pay institution charges and may request to be admitted to take the poor debtor’s oath.