Women in jails and prisons should be supplied with the basic items they need to maintain a reasonable degree of cleanliness and should not be charged a fee for it. Provision of tampons and pads as needed by each incarcerated individual should be part of the cost of incarcerating them, like costs associated with heating, toilet paper, and food. And it is important that tampons be provided to individuals in addition to sanitary pads. Besides the psychological distress many women feel at being forced to spend time sitting in their own blood, recognize that the environment within correctional institutions is rife with transmissible infections, and tampons are a means of reducing inmates’ exposure to one another’s blood. (Imagine stepping into a communal shower after someone with blood running down her legs because she was prohibited from using a tampon. This is simply unacceptable.) I urge you to implement the proposed changes immediately and thank you for fast-tracking this!