United States: elected officials in Massachusetts propose reduced sentences for... organ donations

Romain Rouillard 9:00 p.m., February 02, 2023

Donate an organ to get out of prison faster.

Here is the option that could be offered to prisoners in Massachusetts in the United States in the event of the adoption of a bill carried by two elected Democrats.

The latter indeed wish to develop a vast program of organ donations within the penitentiary establishments of Massachusetts, as reported by

.

Through this, incarcerated persons could benefit from a remission of sentence ranging from 60 to 365 days.

A committee would then be responsible for determining the eligibility criteria as well as the reduction in sentence to be awarded according to "the quantity of bone marrow and organ(s) donated".

Nevertheless, the two chosen ones come up against various obstacles.  

Legal constraints

To date, the US Federal Bureau of Prisons does not allow organ donation if the recipient is not a close family member of the inmate.

It is also quite simply impossible to operate the slightest donation in many state prisons, including in Massachusetts, for lack of suitable logistics.

Moreover, this bill could violate US federal law, as the

reminds us .

The National Organ Transplantation Act, passed in 1984, criminalizes the donation or receipt of any human organ for consideration.

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And the proposal was quick to trigger some skepticism.

"We are concerned about the potential for coercion and the impact of inadequate medical care in prison settings. We believe the solution must target the underlying structural issues leading to health disparities," said Jesse White, Director Massachusetts Prisoners' Legal Services policies from McClatchy News. 

“No compelling reason to ban this” 

For her part, Judith Garcia, one of the two signatories of this bill, prefers to see it as a possibility for prisoners to "restore (their) right to dispose of their bodies by giving them the opportunity to donate an organ or bone marrow".

According to the elected, such a provision would reward their decision "by offering them reduced sentences".

His colleague Carlos Gonzalez, also in charge of the project, sees "no compelling reason to prohibit this for prisoners".

And considers that this law could benefit certain minorities for whom access to care is sometimes a headache.

"Expanding the pool of potential donors is an effective way to 

According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (Unos), 104,413 people are waiting for a transplant in the United States, including 58,970 on a waiting list.