Arizona legislator kills bill that would have given female inmates free feminine products

Women are sending tampons and pads to an Arizona legislator to pressure him into moving forward a bill that would provide a free, unlimited supply of feminine hygiene products to women in Arizona's state prison.

Currently, incarcerated women automatically get 12 free generic-brand pads each month. They must ask an officer if they need more and may possess up to 24 at a time. Unlike in other states, if they want tampons, they must buy them.

Rep. Athena Salman, D-Tempe, introduced House Bill 2222 to change that.

"We know that this bill really struck a nerve ... We need to make this commitment to our female prisoners in our prison system who deserve just basic dignity and respect," Salman said in a video she posted Monday morning that was reposted by CNN commentator Van Jones.

Last week, the bill narrowly passed its first hearing, winning approval from the all-male House Military, Veterans and Regulatory Affairs Committee.

MORE: 12 pads a month, no tampons: Is that enough for Arizona’s incarcerated women?

It is now is in the hands of the Rules Committee. Rep. T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge, committee chairman, said he does not intend to hear the bill, essentially killing it.

The Department of Corrections has said it is reviewing its policy and can address the issue without legislation. Bill supporters have said they are not confident the department will adequately fix the problem.

Department of Corrections says law is not needed

Arizona has one state prison for women: The Arizona State Prison Complex-Perryville in Goodyear, which houses about 4,000 women.

The Arizona Department of Corrections issued a statement Monday on the matter through spokesman Bill Lamoreaux.

"The agency is evaluating revisions to current policy relative to the quality and minimum quantity of feminine hygiene products provided free of charge to all of its female inmates. We are confident that concerns can be appropriately addressed administratively rather than through statute."

Matt Specht, the House Republican communications director, told The Arizona Republic that the Department of Corrections statement is the reason Shope is killing the bill.

He said Shope agrees that what the women are currently getting is insufficient and he has been assured by the department that it will change its policy "to ensure that inmates get the feminine hygiene products they need."

"Because HB 2222 would now be redundant, he does not intend to hear the bill in the House Rules Committee," Specht said.

ACLU questions the plan

Will Gaona, policy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona, questioned why legislators are trusting the Arizona Department of Corrections to address this problem when the department is currently facing up to $650,000 in fines for failing to improve health care for inmates.

In 2012, the ACLU of Arizona and the Arizona Center for Disability Law filed a federal lawsuit alleging medical, dental and psychiatric care in the prisons was grossly inadequate.

The case, Parsons vs. Ryan, was designated a class-action suit. In 2014, without admitting wrongdoing or liability, the department entered into a settlement that set parameters for medical care in Arizona prisons.

Last Monday, lawyers for the state filed court papers listing more than 650 instances during December in which it was unable to comply with terms of the lawsuit. A judge warned the state last October it could be fined $1,000 for each instance.

MORE: Arizona could face fines over failures in prison health care

"The department has repeatedly failed to meet its obligation to provide adequate health care to incarcerated people," Gaona said. "Given this history of failure, it’s time for our legislators to produce real oversight of the department and stop taking it at its word."

Former state prisoners say problem is real

During the first hearing last week, Perryville Warden Kim Currier said she was not aware inmates had a problem with menstrual products.

After she spoke, multiple former Perryvale inmates testified that they wore multiple pads at once because the products are so low quality; they often begged officers for more pads and were denied them; and were punished for bleeding on their clothes.

Currier said the prison has 71 inmates with medical orders that allow them to receive "an excess of whatever they need," but former inmate Adrienne Kitcheyan said she would have had to pay $4 to see medical staff to ask for such a permission.

"When I’m making 9 cents (an hour) after tax you really got to think if I want to put my whole months’ income into hopefully being approved for extra pads, if they believe I deserve them," Kitcheyan said.

Before the hearing, the ACLU provided the committee with a list of complaints from women in Perryville, including a woman with severe endometriosis who was given one extra box of pads and a roll of toilet paper.

Another said that in 2016 she bled for six weeks after giving birth and was only given half a box of pads.

Kitcheyan also said she did not have the same problem in county jails, where she was given unlimited pads.

As for federal prisons, last year the Federal Bureau of Prisons issued a memo requiring all federal prisons to provide free maxi pads, panty liners and two sizes of tampons "in sufficient frequency and number."

Women mail tampons, pads

Over the weekend, Rebecca McHood asked people on social media to send a letter and tampons or pads to the Arizona Department of Corrections, but in the care of Shope, to his office's address.

"Here we have a man unilaterally deciding that the stakeholders don’t need to be at the table to discuss what’s happening," McHood said. "We want for him to hear the bill."

She said she and other supporters of the bill "have no faith" that the department will "be able to fix anything without the backup of a statue because policy can be just as easily undone as it's done."

A handful of women posted photos of their letters using the hashtag #LetItFlow.

McHood first gained attention in August when she hung a second-place participation banner on the Confederate memorial at the state Capitol. She is now running for state Senate.

Specht said Shope "has not yet received any feminine hygiene products in the mail."

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