Why Arent Prisons Built for Periods

[Music]

imagine this

you’re 12 maybe 13 years old

and life is good right i mean sure maybe

you have a math test on tuesday

oh and you’re really hoping you get

invited to that big pool party coming up

but you know for the most part you’ve

got it all figured out

so you’re a pre-teen you just go to the

bathroom one day

you look down and you realize that

you’re

bleeding from somewhere

you’re not even really sure where you

panic

dying yes you definitely might be dying

so you do what any logical person would

do and you go find your mom

and she says you’re not dying she says

that you just got your first period

pause

all right are you guys uncomfortable yet

you’re worried that i’m gonna keep

describing what it’s like for a preteen

to get their first period

well i’m not gonna lie to you parts of

this talk are gonna be uncomfortable

because it is awkward right i mean sure

yes periods are

natural and normal and all that good

stuff

but that doesn’t make it any easier to

talk about

and i think it’s important to

acknowledge that so

this isn’t going to be a big periods or

beautiful talk

i’ll be the first one to say that more

often than not they’re a considerable

pain

and i would personally be a lot more

comfortable in one of those cozy

auditorium seats

instead of being up here talking about

them so

keeping all of this in mind let’s get

back into that mindset of the 13 year

old

who thinks they’re bleeding out now

generally speaking

most preteens get the learning control

curve under control in due time

sure the pool party was awkward when

everyone asked why you wouldn’t get in

the pool to swim

but if you’re from a middle class family

period care will likely become

relatively uncomfortable but largely

mundane

you’ll buy your monthly packs of pads

tampons or you’ll invest in a menstrual

cup

and you’ll keep going with your life so

for the majority of us

it’s definitely easier and certainly

more comfortable to

not talk about that time of the month

and we shouldn’t have to talk about it

if we don’t want to right

but if you’re one of the one in five

women in the united states

who cannot afford menstrual hygiene

products each month

talking about it is going to become a

serious part of your wellness

because when you’re faced with either

free bleeding or asking for an extra pad

these are those times when talking about

it becomes non-negotiable

insufficient access to period products

is commonly referred to as period

product insecurity

and this could be an entire talk in

itself

but today i’m going to narrow in and

talk about how incarcerated women

are so uniquely affected by the

consequences of period product

insecurity

i’ll start with a few critical

distinctions before we really get into

things

first i want to make it unequivocally

clear that not every person

who experiences a period identifies as a

woman

transgender individuals experiencing

periods inside men’s correctional

facilities

are increasingly at risk of essentially

every single issue i’m going to address

today

but there isn’t any kind of database

establishing who identifies as

transgender

in correctional facilities making their

stories and experiences more difficult

to track down

today i am primarily focusing on the

experiences of women

simply because that’s the data i have

access to

my second statement is more of a

personal one while i visited prisons

care deeply for people who are

incarcerated and have researched this

issue with a passionate fire in my

stomach

i will never be able to truly understand

or speak for the people who have

experienced having a period in prison

first hand my hope is that this talk

will empower those individuals

to share their story and whatever

platform suits their needs

and that my talk can promote practices

and resources to further their fight for

equity

now moving into some more technical

distinctions

what is a period now we don’t need to

get too scientific here

so think of it this way the female body

goes what’s through called a menstrual

cycle

so this is a series of repeating events

the cycle is controlled by hormones

with the ultimate goal of preparing the

body for pregnancy

in preparation for a fertilized egg to

implant itself in the uterine wall

theodore and wall thickens if a

fertilized egg is not implanted though

then this thickened lining begins to

shed and prepare to restart that cycle

when we shed the lining we bleed it out

the average period lasts for about three

to seven days and every woman

experiences this process

differently some women bleed more than

others

and in general menstrual cycles are not

like clockwork

they can be irregular and for women with

conditions such as endometriosis or

other complications the bleeding can

last for weeks at a time

and be accompanied by excruciating

cramping

wow so that’s a lot of blood right how

do women manage periods then

well here we see tampons pads liners

and menstrual cups menstrual cups are

not currently offered at any carter

facility based on my research even

though they provide a really unique and

high amount of bodily autonomy

see menstrual cups are reusable

eliminating the need to provide a

constant stream of products

and giving a woman security and knowing

that she will always be able to handle

her period comfortably

this is not the case for pads liners and

tampons which are all disposable

so they need to be changed out

frequently in order to avoid

dangerous and painful infections

currently

only a handful of states have any kind

of policy

offering free menstrual supplies in

their state prisons

and often these policies only include

access to pads or liners

so tampons must still be purchased at

commissary

we see a few things start to happen as

supplies dwindle down

first a woman running low on supplies

might try to just buy more at commissary

but keep in mind some of these numbers

from the prison policy initiative

we know that one that half of all

incarcerated women are actually housed

in jails

not prisons jails are smaller facilities

meant for people awaiting trial or

serving out really short sentences the

short-term nature of jails means that

there is often less programming

less wage earning opportunities and less

resources in general

now add on the fact that a majority of

these women are primary caretakers for

children

and we start to see how an incarcerated

woman’s money can be spread really thin

often women are faced with spending half

their month’s wage on a box of tampons

from commissary

or for paying for extra time on the

phone with a loved one

so let’s say that she can’t afford to

buy more tampons

but she has a really heavy period and

she’s desperate for help

well she can try to make an appointment

with a nurse but this is often a really

dehumanizing experience

typical procedure states that a woman

requesting more pads for men’s

medical reasons will be given a fresh

pad to use

and then the nurse will examine the

amount of blood on the pad to determine

whether or not they think the woman

actually needs more pads

again there is very little bodily

autonomy involved in this process

but i’ll just add you know that periods

don’t really work like this

it’s not just the same amount of blood

all day every day

the amount of blood depends on what part

of the cycle you’re in

so if you can’t get an appointment on

your heaviest day

well they might just not believe you

that you even need any more pads

no matter what incarcerated women are at

the liberty of

other people making these distinctions

on whether or not they need

necessary health supplies so

some prisons have policies where the

woman can get more pads if she

personally asks a correctional officer

but this puts the woman in a really

unique and vulnerable situation

we’re not talking about a woman asking a

correctional officer for more toothpaste

here

we’re talking about a woman under

correctional control asking her direct

supervising figure for a supply that

they know she

literally needs in order to avoid

bleeding through her clothes

and humiliating herself in the most

extreme circumstances

this power dynamic was in full display

at the alabama women’s prison

a federal investigation at the julia

twyler prison for women

revealed that male correctional officers

were withholding menstrual supplies from

women in exchange for sex

though this is an extreme example i

think it really captures the gravity

of incarcerated women’s vulnerability

when faced with insufficient menstrual

supplies

these issues are not going away and

they’re not just going to get solved on

their own

women are the fastest growing prison

population by far

growing by 834 percent over the past 40

years

so how can you the people sitting here

today or watching this on a screen

do anything about access to menstrual

supplies in women’s prisons

well essentially it all boils down to

this not talking about periods

is not a privilege that everyone has

regardless of

whether or not a carceral institution

has free menstrual supplies

the women still have to ask for more

supplies every time they need them

when asked about providing unlimited

menstrual supplies

to incarcerated women a male state

representative from maine notoriously

stated that

the jail system and the prison system

were never meant to be a country club

but what do you think did what i just

described really sound like a country

club to you

if anything that representative is

proving my point perfectly

we all need to be talking about periods

whether you experience one or not

how can we expect our representatives or

our prison officials to understand and

to prioritize these issues

when the general public tends to shy

away from period talk altogether

at a minimum it deserves a dialogue as

we’ve seen here today

incarcerated women do not have the

choice to avoid these conversations

so yeah talking about periods is

uncomfortable but keep in mind that for

incarcerated women

speaking up is part of getting by thank

[Applause]

you

you