“Massachusetts bill would grant early release to inmates who donate an organ or spinal cord,” announces the American daily The Miami Herald. Introduced by two elected Democrats in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, the bill aims to “establish an organ donation program within state prisons”, details on his side The Guardian.
Currently, the United States Federal Bureau of Prisons only allows organ donation by inmates if the recipient is “a member of their immediate family”, says the British newspaper. But many penitentiaries, including those in Massachusetts, offer no organ or bone marrow donation opportunities.
The state of Massachusetts, considered one of the most progressive in the country, has been dominated by the Democratic Party for more than thirty years.
A sentence “reduced from 60 to 365 days”
Designed to address the issue of racial inequities in the US healthcare system, the bill, if passed, “will allow eligible incarcerated persons to have their sentences reduced from 60 to 365 days”, says the text. The parliamentarians behind the proposal also mentioned the creation of a committee, which would decide “the amount of spinal cord and organs to donate to obtain a reduced sentence”, signals The Guardian.
As soon as it was revealed, the bill aroused some dread: “’Organs for a reduced sentence’ is one of the most abominable ideas I have ever heard”, denounces a user on Twitter, quoted by the Miami Herald. “We are concerned about the potential for coercion and the consequences of inadequate medical care in prison settings,” also warns Jesse White, head of the Prisoners’ Legal Service association.
The proposal could otherwise violate federal law, which “prohibits the donation or receipt of human organs in exchange for ‘quantifiable consideration’”, remind him Miami Herald.
