Supporting rights of incarcerated women by providing free period products

As we move forward from Women’s History month, it is important to keep advocating for the rights of women everywhere, including the rights of incarcerated women. Many women in prison have difficulty obtaining adequate period products due to cost, resulting in women bartering with other inmates or doing without. This lack of period products combined with infrequent access to showers and laundry services creates serious health problems such as Toxic Shock Syndrome, bacterial infections, and yeast infections. Period poverty is a human rights issue as well as an urgent health and hygiene problem.

Tanesha Golding, a John Lewis Young Leaders Fellow, is taking action on this issue in Georgia by hosting drives to collect period products for incarcerated women and by educating her community about this human rights concern. Additionally, she has created a petition which calls on Georgia lawmakers to enforce consistent policies across all detention facilities, ensuring free access to period products for all detained women.

Join the effort to increase access to free period products by signing this petition today.

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In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act designed to create a fairer sentencing system that promotes rehabilitation and decreases excessive sentences. Although the First Step Act covered a number of important topics, including reentry initiatives, inmate rehabilitation, and sentencing reform, it made no mention of giving free menstruation products to women who are detained in state prisons which is a pressing health and human rights concern.

While some states, such as California, require that county jails provide free menstrual products, many states do not have those provisions, effectively denying many women access to a basic health and hygiene need. Currently only 25 states have exclusive statutes requiring free period products for incarcerated women, creating what is known as period poverty, or “lack of access to safe and hygienic menstrual products.” Many women in prison have difficulty obtaining adequate period products because the price of these products in the commissary is more than most women can afford, resulting in women bartering with other inmates for these products or doing without. This lack of period products combined with infrequent access to showers and laundry services creates serious health problems such as Toxic Shock Syndrome, bacterial infections, and yeast infections.

The First Step Act's primary focus was on federal prisons and it did not impose a provision for free menstruation products on state-level correctional systems which hold the majority of the country's jail population. Many argue that period poverty is a human rights issue as well as an urgent health and hygiene problem that must be addressed. My work focuses on lack of access to period products for incarcerated women in Georgia.

My desire to support imprisoned women's rights—more specifically, to petition for free menstruation products—was sparked by this oversight in the First Step Act. I was first introduced to this important issue by The Georgia Women's Policy Institute (GWPI), a nonpartisan organization with a Spelman College chapter that advocates for legislative changes in policy. Our 2023-2024 GWPI Spelman cohort launched a capstone project to provide free period products for women in Georgia prisons, and I am continuing the project on my own thanks to a fellowship from John Lewis Young Leaders.

Currently I am partnering with the Black Period Project, a grassroots organization working to provide period products for black girls, women, and trans men, to organize drives for menstrual products for incarcerated women. With the average cost of a box of 42 tampons at $14.79 and a box of 60 pads at $6.79, access to free period products is a necessity for women both inside and outside the criminal justice system, a need I am working to address.

In addition, I am presently the chair of the Unlocked Minds event planning committee. Unlocked Minds is a Spelman club that raises awareness of Georgia's prison system and gives students the chance to get involved in human rights activism. Through this relationship, I intend to host additional menstrual product drives, seminars on assistance for families affected by the criminal justice system, and public education about the ways in which our prison system affects women in our community and what college students can do to remain engaged. So far we have collected 9 boxes of tampons, 1 pack of sanitary wipes, 21 bags of pads, and 38 bags of pantyliners and we aim to increase these amounts in upcoming drives by partnering with local organizations and amplifying our education efforts throughout the community.

Like everyone else, women who are incarcerated should be treated with respect and dignity. Fighting for these rights ensures that the criminal justice system recognizes and responds to the unique difficulties that women in prison experience. Acknowledging the rights of women who are incarcerated is crucial to encouraging recovery and seamless integration back into society after release. In order to achieve this, systemic inequalities must be addressed, gender equity must be advanced, and every person's intrinsic value and dignity must be respected, regardless of their interaction with the criminal justice system. Free menstrual products in the prison system is a human rights concern that transcends both criminal justice and women's rights domains.

Take action to help address this important issue by signing this petition which calls on Georgia lawmakers to enforce consistent policies across all detention facilities, ensuring free access to menstruation products for all detained women and young girls. I will continue to push the petition forward until it is a noticeable bill in the Georgia Capital and legislators work to pass the bill into state law.