KOTEX® PILLOWS
Inmates. Outlaws.
Women. Prison.
Humane treatment.
Conscious. Risen.
Holding. Punish.
Bars and sentence.
Shackles. Cycles.
Human. Essence.
Painful. Comfort.
Admit. Commit.
Create. Supply.
Make-and-do it.
Rehab. Estop.
Measure. Release.
Let all stress drop.
Period. Peace.
Today is the second annual National Day of Empathy. In Arizona, it was celebrated by shining a light on women in prison.
QUESTION: Who, in our society are most in need of empathy?
ANSWER: Certainly the children of women in prisons — and — in terms of what constitutes “cruel and unusual punishment” for females during their childbearing years, a female inmate during menstruation, or childbirth. There are some states in the 50 United where there is a law that women prisoners in childbirth must remain shackled.
Former prisoner at the Arizona State Prison Complex — Perryville, Sue Ellen Allen, suffered breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy while behind bars. When her fellow ‘sisters in orange’ noticed her discomfort and need for an extra pillow, they created one for her using prison issue maxi pads (not Kotex® brand, by the way…these pads were manufactured in China and do not have adhesives, ‘wings’ or even belts for secure attachment to the body).
That’s Sue Ellen Allen in the photo, holding the original non-Kotex® Pillow.
A team of supporters of Ms. Allen’s nonprofit REINVENTING ReEntry program (http://www.reinventingreentry.org)* created 100 maxi pad pillows to distribute to Arizona state lawmakers during their legislative session today.
Please score your empathy for female prisoners on a scale of 1-to-10. Now imagine Arizona’s state legislators sitting on pillows made of maxi pads. What do you think their empathy scores would be? (Hint: Of Arizona’s 90 elected state senators and representatives, 36 are women.)
*REINVENTING ReEntry’s mission is “To educate and reshape our society’s perception of former inmates so they may reintegrate and be given a fair chance for employment, housing, education and entrepreneurial opportunities.”
