What we want
Women being housed in a correctional facility in Georgia, regardless of facility type or correctional status, should have free and unrestricted access to feminine hygiene products and toilet paper.
Reasons for Reform
A total of 15 states provide free tampons in their prison systems.”
Prison Legal News
Feminine hygiene products are not “luxury items.” They are an essential hygiene product for basic human dignity and limiting access to them represents a violation of civil rights.
Although federal prisons passed legislation in 2017 to provide free menstrual products, reports indicate that many prisons were failing to provide adequate supplies.
Public Health Post
In many jails and prisons, access is limited and often restricted. In some cases, women can only keep 6 sanitary pads at one time.
Tampons are and other products are often only made available by purchase from the commissary at significant cost.
A 2017 Bureau of Prisons report cited many prisoners continue to experience irregular allocation of products, restrictions on availability of product type or size, or having to pay for products.
Public Health Post
This is particularly cruel when incarcerated labor in Georgia has a $0 minimum wage, so women may be working for the state or a county and not be provided with even the most basic essentials.
Furthermore, the federal legislation only reaches a small portion of women prisoners as 95% of incarcerated women are housed in local jails or state prisons.”
Public Health Post
As a result of not providing free access to these products, the health, safety, and dignity of thousands of incarcerated women has been negatively impacted and there is no decent justification for this treatment.
Incarcerated women also face health risks, particularly when they are forced to improvise menstrual hygiene supplies, using toilet paper or maxi pads as tampons, or notebook paper to wipe themselves. These unhygienic and abrasive substitutions can result in bacterial infections, toxic shock syndrome, sepsis, and even death.”
Public Health Post
Toilet paper, sanitary pads, and tampons should be made readily available at no cost to all women being held in any correctional facility in the state of Georgia. That means state, county, and city facilities, including detention centers.
With greater attention now being paid to the need to eliminate the state sales tax on tampons in Georgia for all women, now is the time to correct this issue for incarcerated women in Georgia.
Learn More:
You can learn more about this issue from groups like Period.org and Georgia STOMP on how this issue extends beyond the justice system.