After Decades of Work, What Happens When You Can No Longer Afford the Basics?

For decades, a woman we’ll call Mary worked while incarcerated at Women’s Huron Valley Correctional Facility. Her name has been changed to protect her privacy.

According to a recent letter received by Humanity for Prisoners, Mary has been incarcerated for 47 years. During that time, she worked for 17 years in the prison factory and another 27 years in the chow hall. She took classes and courses. Her behavior record, the writer tells us, has been exemplary.

And like other incarcerated people at WHV, purchases Mary made through commissary helped support the Prisoner Benefit Fund, A fund intended to benefit the people incarcerated there.

Then Mary got sick.

She spent several months in the prison infirmary. She could no longer work. And according to the letter HFP received, that meant she could no longer qualify for an indigent loan for basic hygiene supplies.

Why?

Because she had no income to repay it.

After decades of working inside the prison, a woman who became too sick to work reportedly had to hope that a sympathetic corrections officer might give her a sample-sized bottle of shampoo, a little soap or some toothpaste.

“No denture cleaner, denture brush, or other things.”

The writer explained that friends, family members, churches and community organizations can purchase approved commissary boxes for many women at WHV who need additional supplies. But according to her account, women housed in the infirmary cannot receive those donated boxes.

If a woman in the infirmary has money in her own account, she can purchase a box.

If she doesn't have money and someone outside the prison wants to purchase one for her the writer says she cannot receive it.

Think about that for a moment.

A woman can spend decades working while incarcerated. She can contribute to the very system designed to provide benefits to incarcerated people. She can grow older. She can become sick. And when she reaches the point when she can no longer work, even soap, toothpaste and supplies to clean her dentures can become impossible to obtain.

This isn't about comfort.

It's about the most basic necessities a person needs to care for her own body.

When the state incarcerates someone, it assumes responsibility for that person's care. Growing old or becoming sick shouldn't mean losing access to the basics simply because you can no longer work to pay for them.

Mary's story reached HFP because another woman inside believed people on the outside needed to know.