Virginia Prisons Are Banning Female Visitors From Using Tampons
A new policy brought forward by the Virginia Department of Corrections, which says women cannot wear tampons if they are visiting an inmate, is raising eyebrows of many who believe it to be a violation of privacy and health rights.
Beginning next month, any woman visiting an inmate at one of the state’s prisons will be barred from wearing a tampon or a menstrual cup. Instead, they will be offered menstrual pads.
The department says that the rule is necessary in an attempt to cut down on contraband entering the prison. “If someone chooses to visit a Virginia Department of Corrections inmate, he or she cannot have anything hidden inside a body cavity,” Department of Corrections spokesperson Lisa Kinney told the Richmond Times-Dispatch. “There have been many instances in which visitors have attempted to smuggle drugs into our prisons by concealing those drugs in a body cavity, including the vagina.”
Female staff members and prisoners’ attorneys are exempt from the policy.
In a letter sent to visitors and inmates at the Nottoway Correctional Center last week, Warden David Call said the policy stems from concerns that feminine hygiene products could be “an ideal way to conceal contraband.”
Opponents of the policy fear that it will further complicate the visiting process for families of inmates. And just think about how a young woman would feel in this situation, having her privacy violated over a natural bodily function.
Claire Guthrie Gastañaga, executive director of the ACLU of Virginia, said in a statement that “a policy like this one that requires those who wish to visit people who are incarcerated to set aside their dignity and health is simply unacceptable.”
“We call upon Department of Corrections Director Harold Clarke to immediately clarify DOC policy for visitors at all state prisons and to direct wardens at the Nottoway Correctional Center and other facilities to reverse any policy or practice that limits the visitation rights of visitors who are menstruating without regard to which hygiene product they choose to use,” the statement continued.
“That’s such a violation,” Jana White, a co-founder of the Virginia Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Youth told the AP. “I can’t understand why we, the loved ones, have to go through this.”
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