State House lawmakers in Massachusetts have presented one of the more brazenly inhumane laws you’ll have the displeasure of reading about. As if the prison-industrial complex isn’t already bad enough, four Democrats have cosponsored a bill that would allow prisoners to trade their organs and bone marrow for reduced prison time—a premise that feels more fit for a dystopian Netflix film than proposed legislation in the so-called land of the free.
The presenters of this god-awful bill—we’re calling them out: Carlos González, Judith A. Garcia, Bud L. Williams, and Russell E. Holmes—proposed the idea that those who participate would “gain not less than 60 and not more than 365 day reduction in the length of their committed sentence.”
The bill would establish a Bone Marrow and Organ Donation Committee; two of the five appointments would be each selected by the state’s governor to serve three-year terms. One would be a board member of a group advocating for the rights of incarcerated individuals. It’s hard to imagine someone who actually supports the interests of people in prison signing up for this type of project, but there’s always someone willing to get behind some evil scheme, especially if there are profits to be made. In this case, preying on the desperation of those already trapped in a system determined to break people down rather than rehabilitate is especially wicked.
Seeing as this exploitative bill was introduced in the state that has the distinction of calling racist-ass Boston its capital city, you’d expect its creators to be of the Caucasian persuasion. But alas, this vile, unsettling idea that disregards the humanity of prisoners was drawn up by people of color, two of which are Black men. Shame.
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