In White County Tennessee, 32 women have undergone birth control implants and 38
men have opted for vasectomies. But the ACLU has stepped in. Why? Because the
patients are inmates in the White County jail and have been offered reduced sentences in
exchange for undergoing the procedures.
Inmates were promised 30 days off their jail time if they agree to the procedure. The
program, instituted by Judge Sam Benningfield, was controversial because of the legal
and ethical issues raised by opponents who called it coercive.
In late July, the judge rescinded the program saying that the health department was
refusing to do any more of the procedures for free. Officials from the health department
deny that they had anything to do with the original order or its connection with
sentencing but that newly released inmates are welcome “to contact the health
department upon their release" to receive services, which are provided "to any patient
who requests them."
The judge claimed that he was trying to help inmates, many of whom have drug and
alcohol addictions, to not incur the additional burden of more children. But for some
groups, the order harkened back to days when sterilization was forced upon “socially
defective people” – those considered criminal, inebriants, immoral, or intellectually
deficient – many of whom were minorities and the poor.
The ACLU-TN and other community organizations have applauded the rescinded order.