SJC Exchange Library

This report from the Prison Policy Initiative exposes how prisons across the U.S. routinely punish people for a basic bodily function: menstruation. Through vague and overly broad disciplinary rules, facilities often treat bloodstained clothing, requests for hygiene supplies, or improvised menstrual products as misconduct — resulting in sanctions that can include fines, loss of privileges, or even solitary confinement. Because most prison systems were designed around men’s bodies, access to menstrual care remains limited, and the very coping strategies people use to get by are criminalized. The result is a cycle where inadequate hygiene support leads to punishment, punishment leads to fewer resources, and a normal biological process becomes a pathway to harsher confinement.