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Arizona Women Sent This State Representative Pads and Tampons, and Changed a Cruel Prison Policy

Incarcerated women lack adequate feminine hygiene products in many states, and male legislators don’t care.

Arizona Women Sent This State Representative Pads and Tampons, and Changed a Cruel Prison Policy
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 20: A demonstrator poses for a portrait with a sign decorated with tampons that says 'Does this make you uncomfortable?' during the 2018 Women's March on New York City at Central Park West on January 20, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Rebecca Smeyne/Getty Images)

When word got out that female inmates in Arizona were allowed only 12 sanitary napkins per month, sympathetic women outside of the prison system decided to let the authorities know that this practice constituted cruel and unusual punishment. A Twitter campaign called #letitflow quickly caught the attention of male lawmakers who wanted to spend as little time as possible contemplating the natural process of menstruation.

In an effort to bring dignity and basic hygiene to corrections facilities, #letitflow encouraged women from across the country to mail tampons, pads and napkins to the Arizona Department of Corrections and to Republican state representative Thomas "T.J." Shope, who refused to consider a bill to increase the monthly allotment of feminine hygiene supplies provided to women in corrections facilities.

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