Paychest Inc (PYCT)

[playingthegame]

The federal Bureau of Prisons quietly issued a new policy last week requiring prisons to provide free tampons and maxi-pads to female inmates.

The new operations memorandum was released less than a month after Sen. Kamala Harris, D-CA, and three other Democratic senators introduced a bill that would have made the same policy change.

Advocates say that in many prisons and jails around the country, women held behind bars have trouble getting tampons, because of lack of supplies, guards and officials denying their requests, or high prices at the prison commissary.

“It is a humiliating and degrading experience for these women,” said Jennifer Weiss-Wolf, the author of a forthcoming book on menstrual policy in the U.S. and a vice president at the Brennan Center for Justice. “It’s kind of astonishing that in this day and age these products aren’t thought of as a necessity.”

The BOP directive is a major step forward, she said. While a 1996 Bureau policy vaguely states that “products for female hygiene needs shall be available,” the new memo is more explicit, clearly requiring that tampons, maxi-pads, and panty liners be provided to female prisoners “at no cost to the inmates

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/11/tampon-inmate-bureau-of-prison-woman-incarcerated-kamala-harris/