Lawmakers in Massachusetts are proposing legislation that could shorten prison sentences for inmates — but there’s a catch.
They would have to donate organs or bone marrow.
State Rep. Carlos González (D), one of the lawmakers behind the legislation, explained to Boston.com he thought of the bill after seeing the experience of a friend who requires dialysis three to four times a week while waiting for a kidney transplant.
“He’s a father of three children and is in stage 4 of kidney failure,” González told the outlet, adding, “I love my friend and I’m praying through this legislation that we can extend the chances of life for him and any other person in a similar life-or-death situation.”
Boston.com explained, “The bill would establish a bone marrow and organ donation program within the Massachusetts Department of Correction, to be administered by a committee that would include in its ranks MADOC representatives, a donation specialist, and an advocate for incarcerated individuals’ rights. Benefiting institutions would bear donation-related costs, and the Department of Correction wouldn’t profit from donations.”
The legislation would lessen between two months and one year of a prison sentence for organ donors.
González stated incarcerated people would need to receive the “guidance of medical experts and advocates in order to ensure them the same rights and opportunities that every individual in Massachusetts has to save the life of their mother, father, brother, sister, child or friend.”
“In my view, there is no compelling reason to bar inmates from this. One of our goals is to provide information and education on the disproportionate number of Blacks and Latinos dying while waiting for donors,” he added.
The motives behind the bill are pure. Still, the legislation seems a little exploitative.
Yes, those it would apply to were convicted of crimes. And it is not as though they would have their organs harvested against their will. But if you were in prison, would you not want to do everything you can to shave down your sentence?
We’ve seen this in Russia where inmates have joined the war in Ukraine due to promises they received of being freed from their prison sentence after fighting. Of course, the U.S. penal system is not comparable to Russia’s. And donating organs is nothing compared to heading off to war. But it is an example of humans going to rather extreme, unethical lengths to get out of prison.
And ethics advocates have noted it is unethical to sell or incentivize the sale of organs. While there would not be a monetary exchange for the inmates, they would essentially sell their organs for their freedom.
Michael Cox, executive director of the prison abolition organization Black and Pink Massachusetts, told Boston.com, “To incentivize the selling of your body parts in exchange for the most precious commodity in the world — which is time on this earth, and your freedom — was just so appalling.”
He argued the bill would incentivize organ donations because it is “very difficult” to earn a credit-based early release.
There is also the issue of the National Organ Transplant Act, which bans the exchange of a donation for “valuable consideration.”
González was motivated by empathy and sympathy for his friend. But compassion and sympathy do not always make for the best and most ethical legislation.