MADISON–Representative Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) authored 2025 Assembly Bill 736, a bipartisan bill that would provide free menstrual products for inmates of state correctional institutions, county jails, or houses of corrections. Today the Assembly Committee on Corrections heard hours of supportive testimony on Assembly Bill 736 and Assembly Bill 741, which would provide personal hygiene products to inmates of prisons and jails. Representative Robyn Vining (D-Wauwatosa) delivered testimony in support of Assembly Bill 736:
I want to begin by expressing gratitude to my distinguished colleagues and thank you for your time today. I am proud that this bill is bipartisan, and I am honored to stand with voices on both sides of the aisle as we present this bill to you today. It is important to have conversations about Wisconsin women’s health, and their rights, here in the State Capitol, so thank you.
For far too long meaningful conversations about menstruation have been avoided due to stigma, and it is my hope that as leaders in the state of Wisconsin, we can change that. I am proud to author 2025 Assembly Bill 736 that would require the Department of Corrections and county detention facilities to provide a sufficient variety of free feminine hygiene products to all people in our care (PIOC) in order to meet their monthly menstrual healthcare needs.
We need to talk about this issue now because women are one of the fastest growing incarcerated populations in the U.S. And, over the last 25 years, the number of women in Wisconsin’s prisons and jails has quadrupled! Our state jails and prisons, and their policies and programs, were simply not designed to safely and humanely incarcerate women.
An average woman menstruates monthly, about 500 times in a lifetime, spending 6-10 years of her life menstruating! Yet our state continues to have no policy codified in state statute for managing this normal human process in our jails and prisons. This bill seeks to change that by requiring the Wisconsin Department of Corrections to provide free menstrual products such as tampons and pads to all PIOC who menstruate.
Access to period products remains challenging, both outside and within our jails and prisons. 2 in 5 menstruators experience period poverty–struggling to afford to purchase period products, and 1 in 3 low-income people report missing work, school, or similar events due to a lack of access to period products.
So, what do people do when they cannot access needed menstrual products? I, personally, and many women I know, have experienced period poverty–forced to decide to forego food or other items to afford tampons. And, when these products aren’t affordable, what quickly becomes reality is the urge to use the products for periods of time longer than recommended, which can be very dangerous with even deadly health outcomes.
Period poverty is a public health issue, and an especially concerning one for PIOC and for the staff in Wisconsin jails and prisons. PIOCs without an adequate supply of menstrual products can be forced to endure the demeaning and humiliating experience of pleading with correctional officers for help in managing their menstrual periods. Menstrual products are a necessity, and lacking access to them can lead to many negative consequences.
Just like women who are not incarcerated, PIOC try to make do and avoid bleeding publicly. They sometimes use other unsafe or even toxic materials, such as mattress or upholstery stuffing and old clothing or toilet paper, to manage their periods. They also use period products like tampons for longer than is safe, which can cause toxic shock syndrome– an infection that is fatal for about 1 in 12 people and costs on average $50,000 to treat.
Still, it is not uncommon for people without adequate menstrual products to bleed onto their clothing, upholstery and mattresses. Menstrual blood, like blood in general, can spread HIV and hepatitis B and C. Failure to provide menstrual products to PIOC puts the staff of our jails and prisons at risk for these serious, and often lifelong, infections. PIOC and staff deserve better!
Failure to provide adequate menstrual products clearly risks the health and dignity of women in our custody. Not only is this inhumane, but it is also counterproductive to the correctional goals of rehabilitation and reintegration into the community.
And, I want to raise this question to all of us here today: is this an 8th amendment issue? Is it cruel and unusual punishment to suffer lack of access to safe, quality menstrual products? Is it cruel and unusual punishment to be exposed to, while incarcerated, blood that could spread HIV or hepatitis B and C? Is the 8th amendment why we should ensure that Wisconsin implements policy –codified in state statute– ensuring access to quality, nontoxic menstruation products?
Both the interests of safety and security in our correctional institutions and the successful reintegration of (PIOC) into society are served by ensuring that all PIOCs have their basic needs met, including menstrual products.
It is my hope that we can pass this bill so we can provide the safe, dignified care that menstruating people in our State’s care deserve, and in the process of doing so, destigmatize honest and forthright discussions about this issue that affects not only women, but all of our society. I welcome the support you’ll hear today, and I also welcome the dissent.
In this building we must learn to work together, offer and accept amendments from both political parties, and come together to do the hard work to find the common ground that serves the common good. If you’d like to propose changes to this bill, I am listening, and my door is open.
Thank you for engaging in this conversation. I ask that you support Assembly Bill 736 in this committee and on the Assembly floor, so we can move Wisconsin forward, together!
Rep. Vining represents the 13th Assembly District, which includes Elm Grove, and parts of Wauwatosa and Brookfield. For more information visit Rep. Vining’s website here.
