R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-8-4

Authority (General). If the state director of health, or his or her duly authorized agent, determines, upon investigation, that a threat to the public health exists because any person is suffering, or appears to be suffering, from a communicable disease, the director or his or her authorized agent may cause that person to be confined, in some proper place, for the purpose of isolation or quarantine, until the threat to the public health has abated.

Authority (Governor). The power to establish quarantine in this state shall also be vested in the governor; and whenever the governor shall deem it advisable for the preservation of public health and the prevention of the spread of infectious diseases, he or she may, by proclamation, place under quarantine the whole state or that portion of the state that he or she may deem necessary, and he or she shall authorize and empower the state director of health to take any action and make and enforce any rules and regulations that may be deemed necessary to prevent the introduction and restrict the spread of infectious diseases in the state.

Authority (Local). It shall be the duty of the several city and town councils to require their officers to enforce the rules and regulations mentioned and referred to in this section within their respective cities and towns.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-8-7

Penalties. Any person who is confined by the director or his or her authorized agent under the provision of § 23-8-4 and who violates that confinement shall be punished by a fine of not more than $50or by imprisonment for not more than 90days, or both.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-8-21

Any person knowingly violating any of those rules and regulations so made and established shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $50or be imprisoned not more than two years.

R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-8-4

Police Power & Limitations. Orders under this chapter shall be in accordance with the procedures for compliance order and immediate compliance orders set forth in §§ 23-1-20 – 23-1-24. A person subject to quarantine under this section shall be entitled to file a petition for relief from such order at any time, included, but not limited to, a petition based upon compliance with a treatment under less restrictive alternatives.