Letting Inmates Donate Organs for Time Off? Bad Idea
In January, two Democratic state representatives, Judith Garcia and Carlos Gonzalez, proposed a bill that would offer prisoners in Massachusetts a new way to win reduction in their sentences: by donating their bone marrow or vital organs.
The bill stated that the commissioner of the Department of Corrections should establish both a bone marrow and organ donation program within the department and a committee focused on bone marrow and organ donation that would set eligibility standards for inmates interested in the program. While forbidding commissions or monetary payments for donors, it stated that prisoners could “gain not less than 60 and not more than 365 day reduction in the length of their committed sentence” if they donated bone marrow or an organ.
The legislators claimed that their proposal would respect the bodily autonomy of incarcerated people by letting them decide what to do with their vital organs. It also would address racial disparities by helping to expand the pool of donors.