This story was originally published by the WND News Center.
In a scheme that does more than border on the bizarre and certainly falls within the category of gruesome, lawmakers in one state are proposing to allow inmates to leave prison early if they donate organs or bone marrow.
That’s despite the fact the plan likely is illegal under federal law.
CBS Boston confirms a legislative plan on Beacon Hill would let inmates leave from 60 days to a year early “on the condition that the incarcerated individual has donated bone marrow or organ(s).”
The plan is by Democrats Judith Garcia and Carlos Gonzalez.
While the promoters say it would “restore bodily autonomy to incarcerated folks,” there are others who have concerns, the report said.
“It’s like you’re harvesting organs. It just doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t feel humane. You’re bargaining with vulnerable people over their time,” Project Turnaround founder Romilda Pereira said in an interview with the Boston Globe.
It’s “perverse,” a doctor at Brigham & Women’s Hospital said.
“There are certainly ways we can engage our free communities in educating them about the options of organ and bone marrow donation,” Monik Jiménez said. “But going to our incarcerated population as a source is problematic, at best, and exploitative.”
At Lever News, a report said the idea raises “major bioethical concerns.”
“The bill appears to go significantly beyond other organ-donation policies for prisoners. The Federal Bureau of Prisons says that prisoners may donate their organs while incarcerated but only to immediate family members. In 2013, the state of Utah allowed organ donation from prisoners who died while incarcerated. Most other states do not allow organ donations from prisoners at all,” the report said.
And the Ethics Committee of the United Network for Organ Sharing which administers organ transplants in the nation has panned the idea.
And, the report noted, a 2007 ABC report on a similar plan in the South said, the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984 makes it a federal crime “to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human organ for valuable consideration for use in human transplantation. 180 days off a sentence could likely constitute ‘valuable consideration.'”
