#MeToo helps shine a light on lack of feminine hygiene products in prison

Growing recognition of the lack of access to pads and tampons in prisons and jails has created a wave of measures in state legislatures which aim to train staff, supply inmates with hygiene products, and raise awareness on the widespread issue.

ANNAPOLIS, MD. — Kimberly Haven couldn't get the feminine hygiene products she needed in Maryland's only prison for women while serving a 15-month sentence, so she made her own using toilet paper. She said that after her release in 2015, she suffered toxic shock syndrome and needed an emergency hysterectomy.

"Toxic shock, emergency hysterectomies – it runs the gamut of how women are forced to pay for, with their very health, our bad policies and our inattention to the gender disparities that exist within our system," Ms. Haven said.

Fueled in part by the national #MeToo movement, state legislatures around the country – as well as corrections officials and the federal government – are working to supply prisons and jails with adequate feminine hygiene products, train staff, and raise awareness of the longtime, widespread issue.

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