
<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.</p>



<p>Filed last month, Bill HD.3822 is sponsored by two Democrat state representatives – Carlos González ;and ;Judith A. Garcia – and is called “An Act to establish the Massachusetts incarcerated individual bone marrow and organ donation program.” </p>



<p>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>



<p>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’s sentence in exchange for his/her “good behavior.”</p>



<p>Representative Garcia, one of the bill’s sponsors, tied the proposed law to the alleged racial injustice. In her statement to the <em>Associated Press</em>, she said it would “reduce health inequities from the vicious cycle of unjust incarceration and over-policing of Black and Brown communities.”</p>



<p>But many critics see Bill HD.3822 as unethical. Kevin Ring, president of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, even called it “something from a dystopian novel.” George Annas of Boston University&#8217;s School of Public Health equated the deal of reduced prison sentence for one’s organs to the sale of organs, which is banned by federal law.</p>



<p>Jody Serrano posed the question in <em>Gizmodo</em> whether, in such a deal, one can really call the inmate’s decision a donation:</p>



<p><em>Although is it a donation if you’re giving something in exchange for something else?</em></p>



<p>Even the Democratic House Speaker Ronald Mariano commented that the proposed law doesn’t make sense. She was cited telling the <em>Associated Press</em>:</p>



<p><em>“It’s kind of an extreme way to get your sentence reduced. I don’t know if it makes much sense.”</em></p>



<p>Comments on Twitter criticized the bill, and some equated it to organ harvesting.</p>



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<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>
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<p>Public speaker and human rights advocate Steven Donziger called the bill “macabre and a sign of our escalating dystopia.”</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<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>
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<p>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 “valuable consideration.”</p>

MA Democrats Want Convicts to ‘Donate’ Organs for Early Release
