Rogers / 4 Senator Hemmati

S.R._____

A BILL
To mandate distribution of feminine hygiene products as basic necessities in womens prisons.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the Periods in Prison Act of 2017.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1) Use of the same tampon for a long period of time can lead to toxic shock syndrome.
2) Use of the same pad or tampon for a long period of time causes bacterial and fungal infections for women, which
can lead to various types of cancers.
3) Women are subject to strip searches to prove they are menstruating.
4) 53% of women in jails have medical illnesses.
5) The average salary of an incarcerated woman is 17 cents an hour.
6) Women in California jails report delays in getting necessary menstrual products because they are not immediately
available, are only available on certain days or in insufficient amounts, or are provided selectively.
7) The feminine hygiene market is worth $15 billion dollars.
8) Toxic shock syndrome can lead to death.
9) The average period should last from three to five days.
10) Private correctional facilities made $629 million dollars in profits in 2014.
11) Private correctional facilities were a $4.8 billion dollar industry in 2014.
12) Menstruation is the shedding of the lining of the uterus through menstrual blood.
13) The average age to begin menstruation is 12 years old.
14) The average age to begin menopause and stop menstruation is 50 years old.
15) The Universal Declaration of Human Rights.0 8 Article 5 states that no one shall be subjected to torture or cruel,
inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
16) Between 1980 and 2014, the number of incarcerated women increased by over 700%, riding from 26,378 in 1980
to 215,332 in 2014.
17) A higher degree of menstrual irregularity and symptom distress has been found in women prisoners compared to
women in the community.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The Periods in Prison Act of 2017 shall mandate that all penitentiaries in the United States of America distribute
and sell feminine hygiene products as basic necessities. No inmate shall be denied access to the health care
necessities unique to menstruating women, including but not limited to tampons, pads, and menstrual cups. Inmates
shall be eligible to purchase and/or obtain feminine hygiene products with or without a strip search. Prison
commissaries shall be advised to avoid high inflation of the pricing of these products.
B) This law shall be enforced and upheld by the United States Department of Justice, the United States Department
of Health and Human Services, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Funding to provide adequate supply of free
product and to reward price monitoring commissaries will come from individual state budget and the Federal Bureau
of Prisons.
C) Any penitentiary official found breaking this law shall face indefinite suspension from their position and will be
subject to pay fines of up to $5,000 USD. Penitentiary commissaries with low inflation on the prices of feminine
hygiene products they are selling shall be eligible to receive a grant. This law shall be enacted on February 1, 2017.