Yes, that's the correct behavior for mod_perl. The RPC filehandle is a global, and global variables are persistant. Sometimes, you might want your files to stay open (e.g. persistant database connections). Other times, it's a good idea to use localized filehandles with a gensym or some other trick, so they don't get left open.

use Symbol;
my $rpc = gensym();
open $rpc, ...
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