{"id":1363,"date":"2023-02-16T10:36:39","date_gmt":"2023-02-16T15:36:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=1363"},"modified":"2023-02-16T10:36:39","modified_gmt":"2023-02-16T15:36:39","slug":"ma-democrats-want-convicts-to-donate-organs-for-early-release","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/?p=1363","title":{"rendered":"MA DEMOCRATS WANT CONVICTS TO \u2018DONATE\u2019 ORGANS FOR EARLY RELEASE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg%20xmlns='http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg'%20viewBox='0%200%20370%20247'%3E%3C\/svg%3E\" class=\"zeen-lazy-load-base zeen-lazy-load\" data-lazy-src=\"blob:https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/1094ac5f-8eb6-43da-9e64-ccedfdebc13e\" alt=\"\"\/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"blob:https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/1094ac5f-8eb6-43da-9e64-ccedfdebc13e\" alt=\"\"\/><\/noscript><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats in Massachusetts have proposed a new law that baits convicted criminals into getting released early in exchange for donating a body organ. The proposed law has raised ethical questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Filed last month, Bill HD.3822 is sponsored by two Democrat state representatives \u2013 Carlos Gonz\u00e1lez\u00a0and\u00a0Judith A. Garcia \u2013 and is called \u201cAn Act to establish the Massachusetts incarcerated individual bone marrow and organ donation program.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under this bill, the Department of Corrections will establish a Bone Marrow and Organ Donation Program, which will oversee the reduction in prison sentences of incarcerated individuals on one condition: the incarcerated individual has donated bone marrow or organ(s).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposed law will allow reducing jail time of convicts by as less as 60 days (2 months) and up to a maximum reduction of a year (365 days) once they donate their body part(s). A special parole hearing will decide on reducing the convict\u2019s sentence in exchange for his\/her \u201cgood behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Representative Garcia, one of the bill\u2019s sponsors, tied the proposed law to the alleged racial injustice. In her statement to the\u00a0<em>Associated Press<\/em>, she said it would \u201creduce health inequities from the vicious cycle of unjust incarceration and over-policing of Black and Brown communities.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But many critics see Bill HD.3822 as unethical. Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, even called it \u201csomething from a dystopian novel.\u201d George Annas of Boston University\u2019s School of Public Health equated the deal of reduced prison sentence for one\u2019s organs to the sale of organs, which is banned by federal law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jody Serrano posed the question in\u00a0<em>Gizmodo<\/em>\u00a0whether, in such a deal, one can really call the inmate\u2019s decision a donation:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Although is it a donation if you\u2019re giving something in exchange for something else?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Even the Democratic House Speaker Ronald Mariano commented that the proposed law doesn\u2019t make sense. She was cited telling the\u00a0<em>Associated Press<\/em>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>\u201cIt\u2019s kind of an extreme way to get your sentence reduced. I don\u2019t know if it makes much sense.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Comments on Twitter criticized the bill, and some equated it to organ harvesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">harvesting organs from prisoners is the plot of the island (2005) <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/XbVFDvdCYE\">https:\/\/t.co\/XbVFDvdCYE<\/a><\/p>&mdash; dru_star (@dru_star) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/dru_star\/status\/1620512615394054144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 31, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Public speaker and human rights advocate Steven Donziger called the bill \u201cmacabre and a sign of our escalating dystopia.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Stunning that an elected official in the US is proposing early release for inmates in exchange for donating bodily organs or bone marrow.<br><br>This is macabre and a sign of our escalating dystopia.<a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/iy5XE1Olzf\">https:\/\/t.co\/iy5XE1Olzf<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Xs9Ujb9sN9\">pic.twitter.com\/Xs9Ujb9sN9<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Steven Donziger (@SDonziger) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SDonziger\/status\/1621554801153642499?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 3, 2023<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Newsmax noted that Bill HD.3822 not only faces a steep climb in MA state house but also may clash with federal law that bans acquiring human organs for \u201cvaluable consideration.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/punchingbagpost.com\/ma-democrats-want-convicts-to-donate-organs-for-early-release\/\">https:\/\/punchingbagpost.com\/ma-democrats-want-convicts-to-donate-organs-for-early-release\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Democrats in Massachusetts have proposed a new law that baits convicted criminals into getting released early in exchange for donating a body organ. The proposed law has raised ethical questions. Filed last month, Bill HD.3822 is sponsored by two Democrat state representatives \u2013 Carlos Gonz\u00e1lez\u00a0and\u00a0Judith A. Garcia \u2013 and is called \u201cAn Act to establish the Massachusetts incarcerated individual bone marrow and organ donation program.\u201d Under this bill, the Department of Corrections will establish a Bone Marrow and Organ Donation [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1363","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democrats"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1365,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1363\/revisions\/1365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nakedpolitics.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}