Last year, the Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a memo making access to pads, tampons, and panty liners free of cost for federal female inmates. Problem is, most incarcerated women are in state prisons and local jails. Just 10 percent of female inmates were affected by the federal policy change.
State-level progress has been slow, in part because of lawmakers’—predominantly male lawmakers, it seems—reluctance to address issues surrounding menstruation. In Arizona, a state legislator, Rep. Athena Salman (D-Tempe) is trying to undo that taboo. Recognizing a crisis, she has introduced a bill to ensure the 4,000 women in prison in Arizona receive feminine hygiene products.
[I]ncarcerated women are currently only provided 12 free pads per month and are only allowed to possess 24 pads at a time. They aren’t provided any tampons. To get more pads or tampons, prisoners have to buy them. But buying these products is far from easy. Base pay for prisoners is about $0.15 per hour; local news outlet Arizona Central estimates that to pay for a set of pads, a woman would need to work about 21 hours, and for just one box of tampons, up to 27 hours.
Inmates in other states do not have to pay for tampons. These abstract figures are disturbing; what they mean in practice for inmates subjected to these conditions is shocking.
During the bill’s hearing at the reportedly all-male House Military, Veterans and Regulatory Affairs Committee, several women, Arizona Central reports, including some former inmates, testified about the dismal conditions in Perryville state prison, the only one in Arizona that houses women.
“Bloodstained pants, bartering, and begging for pads and tampons was a regular occurrence,” Adrienne Kitcheyan said of her time there.