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The Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act , introduced on Tuesday by Senators Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), is a bold move to improve the care and treatment of the nearly 13,000 female inmates locked up in federal prisons. Among the bill’s critical provisions, it would ban shackling pregnant women or placing them in solitary confinement. And it would help incarcerated mothers maintain close ties to their children by easing visitation restrictions and allowing for free phone calls.

It also acknowledges that for those behind bars, there are unnecessary hurdles to coping with menstruation and managing periods in a healthy and hygienic way. The bill includes a directive to distribute quality pads and tampons to inmates, free of charge.

The proposal seems so sensible – and the alternative so inhumane – that one might wonder why it hasn’t been raised as a legislative priority before.

It has been raised on the local and state level: New York City passed a law last summer requiring the same in all of its correction facilities (shelters and public schools, too). Earlier this year, Colorado mandated funding for tampons in its state prisons; and Los Angeles County did in its juvenile detention centers.

What none of these proposals regarding menstruation fully addresses, though, is the reality that the availability of sanitary products isn’t simply a matter of budget lines and purchasing orders. It has little to do with stock, supply, or actual need.

Rather, it has everything to do with power.

In correction facilities across the country, from county jails to federal penitentiaries, the varied ways in which menstruating prisoners are disregarded or disrespected is staggering. When access to basic hygiene supplies is withheld, it is often the direct result of an abusive culture – one that many facilities tolerate and few laws can adequately address.

In 2016, a Kentucky judge was stunned to find a defendant appear in court for arraignment wearing no pants and menstruating. She explained that correctional officers refused to give her pads or a change of clothes when she told them she had her period, despite repeated requests. Footage from the courtroom went viral – an intense scene in which the outraged judge called the jail staff from the bench, demanding an explanation and shouting to the courtroom, “Am I in the Twilight Zone? What is happening here?”

Unfortunately, menstruating prisoners rarely receive such dogged intervention. Instead they get peppered with intrusive questions and insults: “Didn’t I give you one yesterday?” Or, “Damn, girl, you must have a heavy flow.” At one New York state prison (which has since been closed), inmates reportedly had to save and show their used, blood-soaked pads as proof more were needed. These inquiries and stunts are outlawed under the overarching prohibition of “undue familiarity” between staff and inmates – rules that regulate interactions that are too intimate, ranging from sexual relations to performing personal favors – but those rules aren’t widely enforced either.

The Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act offers a smart starting place for shining the national spotlight on an otherwise hidden problem and establishing baseline expectations. But, truly, at the heart of the matter is the inherent power imbalance, coupled with rampant misogyny, to which incarcerated women are subject.

We urge the bill’s sponsors to factor in clear-cut guidance for treatment of menstruating inmates, leaving as little room as possible for subjectivity and discretion as to the manner in which products are distributed. This includes limiting interactions among or between inmates and staff – especially where the ability to exert dominance or reinforce stigma looms. At last year’s New York City Council hearings, for example, activists testified that pads should be centrally placed near toilets or in a common location so inmates can simply take what’s needed without having to seek permission or intervention. That would be a small accommodation that could yield tremendous benefit.

Kudos to Senators Booker and Warren for declaring that the ability to manage menstruation is not a bonus, a reward, an entitlement, or a favor to be begged or bargained for. Even if this bill doesn’t get the attention it deserves this Congress, it has highlighted the fact that this is a core human need, even and most especially for those in government custody. And should be treated as such. Period.

Jennifer Weiss-Wolf is the author of the forthcoming book Periods Gone Public and a vice president at the Brennan Center for Justice.