R.I. Gen. Laws § 14-1-26: Separation from adult offenders.

In case a delinquent or wayward child is taken into custody or detained before or after the filing of a petition, or pending a hearing on the petition, the child shall not be confined in any prison, jail, lockup, or reformatory, or be transported with, or compelled or permitted to associate or mingle with, criminal, vicious, or dissolute persons, but shall be kept under the care of the person arresting the child, or of a police matron as provided in § 14-1-24, until by order of the court other disposition is made of the child as provided in this chapter; and if the child is ordered to be detained or confined in any of the institutions mentioned in this chapter, the child shall not be conveyed to or from the institution with adult offenders.