Menstrual products must be accessible to women detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Bureau of Prisons, but both agencies are failing to do so, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office.
What’s more, after the watchdog gave ICE the advice, the immigration agency rejected it.
The problem, published in a Monday report, is fourfold: empty containers, a bartering economy, policy gaps and “orderly” system failure.
At one Bureau of Prisons facility, investigators found storage containers for menstrual products empty, which stayed empty for both days of the visit. Staff brought supplies only once a week, prompting inmates to hog the products.
Eight women said that staff refused to provide more menstrual products after they asked.
Such inadequate access has created an underground economy where inmates trade, sell, beg for and steal others’ menstrual products, make homemade products — including Christmas decor — and wear products longer than safe.
Some of the bureau’s facilities also rely on prisoners rather than staff to distribute products, with the guards sometimes playing favorites.
Neither the BOP nor ICE can systematically verify whether its facilities are following policy. BOP’s audits do not consistently check all policy requirements, and ICE’s detention standards are too vague for inspectors to assess whether prisons are providing adequate access.
Not all of the bureau’s institutions provided the required types of menstrual products or replenished them adequately, and its oversight mechanisms have not detected all deficiencies across institutions.
Additionally, ICE oversight mechanisms have a limited ability to identify problems with access to menstrual products because it does not have clear standards.
The report recommends that the bureau improve oversight and ICE clarify its standards. The bureau concurred with the recommendation and identified steps to address it.
But ICE rejected the recommendation, claiming current standards provide sufficient “flexibility” in creating customized plans consistent with custody operations based on needs, strategic constraints and geographic location.
The Department of Homeland Security did not concur with the recommendation for ICE, as officials stated that ICE’s detention standards “serve as guidelines for facilities to operate according to their individual operational needs and security concerns.”
