It shouldn't have taken a state law to dictate common decency, but we still commend Missouri lawmakers for doing the right thing by funding feminine hygiene products in state jails.
The new law is making a difference.
The Missouri Independent recently reported because of the new funding, jails across Missouri are being issued payments to reimburse them for the purchase of feminine hygiene products.
Amazingly, jails haven't always paid for the products. The news source said that in the Clay County Detention Center, for instance, inmates had to pay an intake fee of $8. Women on their periods had to pay extra.
They used to be charged about $6 for two packages of 12 pads. If they didn't have the money to pay, the amount would be marked as debt they owed the jail, the article reported.
But earlier this year, state lawmakers passed a law requiring those products to be provided to women at no cost. Missouri jails now issue payments to reimburse them for the purchase of feminine hygiene products.
"It's just been nice, because it's like toilet paper. You need it for a bodily function that you can't help," Sgt. Amber Brashear, the office manager for the Clay County Detention Center, said in the story. The county received a little more than $9,500. "So it's been a long time coming, and I was excited about it as a female employee working here."
Many jails already provided feminine hygiene products for free, but not all. The Independent has reported some women inmates were provided with such low-quality products that they made their own.
It might have stemmed from an attitude that incarceration isn't supposed to be enjoyable. But this isn't a perk. It's a necessity, regardless of whether the female inmates are serving time for a crime or are awaiting trial.
We're glad to see the state did the right thing on this issue.
News Tribune