Storing various feminine hygiene products in a cabinet. Getty Images.
A new law in Ohio will soon give incarcerated women free access to menstrual products in Ohio prisons.
Signed by Ohio Governor Mike DeWine Ohio House Bill 29 December 19 and will enter into force on March 20. The bill passed unanimously in the House and Senate.
“It is in the best interest of all women to have access to menstrual products,” said Kayelin Tiggs, who has been advocating for women in prison since 2021. She helped draft the bill’s language and worked with an Ohio state representative. Latyna M. Humphrey, D – Columbus.
“We wanted… to provide women in prison with access to feminine hygiene products.” Humphrey he said. “It kind of takes those worries away from incarcerated women.”
Tiggs recalls visiting the Montgomery County Jail and being told that there was no formal policy regarding menstrual products at the time.
“They had what they called best practice, which was to take a handful of products and hand them out,” she said. “There was no formalized way for these facilities to distribute these products, and there was a pattern of withholding and discarding these products.”
Tiggs has heard from women in prison that feminine hygiene products are sometimes denied.
“In most cases, whether women received their products was entirely at the discretion of correctional offices,” she said.
Courtney Alspaugh, who spent five years at the Dayton Correctional Facility from 2017 to 2021, remembers going around begging for pads and tampons. Sometimes she had to resort to using paper towels or toilet paper.
“It was like chaos,” she said. “You’re basically on your own about what to do. … I used laundry rags because there was no other option, I had no other choice.”
She she cried when she heard DeWine sign the bill.
“I was just really overwhelmed and excited and just happy that others wouldn’t have to go through this because they’re already going through so much,” she said. “It’s just one less thing they have to worry about.”
Ohio’s statute includes anti-discrimination language that states period products cannot be withheld as part of a sentence or based on an inmate’s identity. The Act also imposes an obligation to have waste containers in all facilities.
“We were surprised to learn that women had no way to dispose of their products,” Tiggs said. “They often picked up their products with their bare hands and either rinsed them off… or had to carry them with their bare hands and move them to another part of the facility.”
Sometimes used menstrual products were just left on the floor, Tiggs said.
“The products are so cheap that they fell out of women’s pants, fell out of women’s underwear and just lay on the floor, and there was no way to dispose of them,” she said.
The new law requires prisons to allow inmates to shower once a day during menstruation.
The bill was reintroduced in three subsequent general assemblies before it was signed into law. It was first introduced in overdue 2022 during the 134th General Assembly.
“We knew there wouldn’t be enough time for the bill to gain traction,” Tiggs said. “We wanted to make some noise about it.”
The bill passed the House but stalled in the Senate during the 135th General Assembly. The bipartisan bill was introduced by Humphrey and Republican Marilyn John, GGeneral Assembly.
The federal government has begun offering free access to menstrual products for women federal prisoners as of 2017 According to the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, 25 states have laws requiring open access to feminine hygiene products in prisons.
AND 2025 analysis from the Prison Policy Initiative reported at least six types of policies that could be used against people who menstruate in prisons, including destruction of property, personal hygiene, contraband, physical movement, work assignments, and feigning illness.
“T“Refusing and withholding menstrual products is a form of intended punishment,” Tiggs said. “Sometimes all you have left when you’re in prison is your dignity.”
Follow a Capital Journal reporter Megan Henry in Bluesky.
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