the denial of the ability to be hygienic for incarcerated women
By: Danielle Quarless
Tags: Prison Reform, Prison, Hygiene

the denial of the ability to be hygienic for incarcerated women Danielle Quarless Follow Mar 22 · 3 min read

Mother Jones illustration; Shutterstock; Getty

Hygiene is a very important aspect in our daily lives. Specifically in the U.S., it is an understood societal standard that upkeep of your person is crucial; especially if you will surround yourself with others in a public setting. My question is, does this social norm suddenly disappear in jails and prisons? The simple answer is no.

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It is common knowledge that for females, it is more difficult to be hygienic than men. The female anatomy and the menstruation cycle is sacred to a woman and it is imperative for women to take care of themselves in that respect. Under incarceration, everything is stripped from you and for women, their personal appearance and maintenance is the only thing special to them that they have left.

So, if prison is supposed to be a place for prisoners to rehabilitate, why is access to hygiene products scarce?

In my research of this topic, I found an article with the title “In Jail, Pads and Tampons as Bargaining Chips” by Zoe Greenberg of the New York Times. This title is horrific in its own.

This article tells the stories of Tara Oldfield Parker and BettyAnn Whaley, two female inmates in New York. Parker recalled when she was first arrested, she had gotten her period that day and had asked a staffer if she could change her pad. It took an hour and a half for someone to produce a product for her to wear and that product was a medical guaze. Greenberg reflects on the story of Miss Parker and critiques the prison institution by stating: “ the way menstruation can be treated in New York’s jails: as an inconvenience, almost a surprise, to be met, at times, with an improvised response.”(Greenberg, 2017)

Not only is menstruation treated as an inconvenience by our prison systems but also can be used give correctional officers an even stronger control complex. It is not a new idea that guards in our prisons are corrupt but the stories from prison that Miss Whaley recalls in the article shows how officers use female inmates longing to be hygienic against them. She, referring to tampons, in an interview stated that “they were only dispensed to certain individuals — you had to be sort of chummy-chummy in order to receive them.”Greenberg adds that “Officers sometimes tried to teach women a lesson by limiting access, affecting self-esteem as well as basic hygiene.” (2017)

In reading the article “Jail Is a Terrible Place to Have a Period. One Woman Is on a Crusade to Make It Better.” by Samantha Michaels of motherjones.com, I learned that prisons give female inmates free sanitary pads but they are normally not of good quality and do not adhere to the underwear of the women in use. As for tampons, they are not free at all prisons and can be bought in commissary for sometimes over retail price.

Sources:

Greenberg, Z (2017, April). In Jail, Pads and Tampons as Bargaining Chips. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/20/nyregion/pads-tampons-new-york-womens-prisons.html

Michaels, S (2019, February). Jail Is a Terrible Place to Have a Period. One Woman Is on a Crusade to Make It Better. Motherjones. https://www.motherjones.com/crime-justice/2019/02/jail-california-tampons-menstruation-paula-canny-sanitary-pads/