Poor? Black? Incarcerated? Donate a Kidney or an Eye

A MA bill written by two Dems would offer a reduction in sentence of 60-365 days if prisoners donate an organ or bone marrow. The bill ignores a violent government history of such coercion.

Two Democratic members of the Massachusetts state legislature have proposed a bill that would give state prisoners between 60 and 365 days off their sentences if they donate a kidney, bone marrow, skin, or “other organs” to people in the general population who have a need for those organs.  A statement by the bill’s sponsors, Reps. Judith Garcia and Carlos Gonzalez, says that the “act to establish the Massachusetts incarcerated individual bone marrow and organ donation program…would restore bodily autonomy to incarcerated folks.”  That nonsensical statement did not address the fact that both the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the federal government have a sick history of medical coercion and experimentation on vulnerable people.  And those vulnerable people are usually people of color.  It also did not address the fact that the bill is likely illegal in the first place.