COLUMBIA, S.C., Mar. 8, 2007
Wanna Cut Your Jail Time? Donate A Kidney!
S.C. Legislation Would Reduce Prison Terms For Inmates Who Donate Organs, Bone Marrow
-
(CBS/AP)
-
Interactive Organ Transplants Find a donor group in your state and learn more about the history - and amazing future - of organ transplants.
-
Interactive Crime Beat Statistics and specifics on crime in America.
Lawmakers are considering legislation that would allow prisoners to donate organs or bone marrow in exchange for time off their sentences. A state Senate panel gave the nod to an inmate organ and tissue donation program Thursday; debate was postponed on whether the incentive could be added because legislators worried it may not be allowed under federal law.
"People are dying. I think it's imperative that we go all out and see what we can do," said the bills' chief sponsor, Sen. Ralph Anderson, D-Greenville. "I would like to see us get enough donors that people are no longer dying."
The measure approved by the Senate Corrections and Penology Subcommittee would set up a volunteer organ and tissue donor program in the state Corrections Department to teach inmates about the procedures and the need for donors. The incentive bill on which lawmakers want legal advice would shave up to 180 days off a prison sentence for a donation.
South Carolina advocates for organ donations said the incentive policy would be the only one of its kind in the nation.
Federal law makes it illegal to give organ donors "valuable consideration." Lawmakers want to know whether the term could apply to time off of prison sentences.
"We want to make this work, we really do," said Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg. "But I want to make sure no one goes to jail for good intentions."
Mary Jo Cagle, the chief medical officer of Bon Secours St. Francis Health System in Greenville, urged senators to find an allowable incentive. She said the two-bill package offers "the opportunity for a unique kind of social justice."
"We have a huge need for organs and bone marrow," Cagle said.
But Melissa Blevins, executive director of Donate Life South Carolina, said any incentive would break the law and the principle behind donations. "It really muddies the water about motive. We want to keep it a clearly altruistic act," she said.
Under the proposals, money for medical procedures and any prison guard overtime pay would be paid by the donor recipient and charitable groups. The state would also be able to decide which inmates are permitted to donate.
Corrections Department Director Jon Ozmint said he believe inmates would donate even without the incentive.
"There are long-term inmates who would give if they knew a child was dying," he said. "They're lifers. They know they're going to die in prison."
In South Carolina, 636 people are on a waiting list for organ donations. Last year, 291 people received organ transplants — 90 percent of them from dead donors. About 50 people awaiting transplants die each year, Blevins said.
© MMVII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
More From U.S.
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 24 CommentsI did, and Dr Lecter says I should try some fava beans.
Lose a kidney or go to prison for 180 days.
What would you choose?
Posted by d33pthroat1 at 05:39 PM : Mar 08, 2007
180 DAYS IN PRISON......NO DOUBT ABOUT IT......
unless a very gay guy named bubba is in the cell with me then i might think twice....
Put an economic marker on those who are eligible to receive any organs. We already see the wealthy jumping the line for organ transplant via politics, put the monetary application to work and you have a rich man's "fountain of life" via economic predjudice.
What a windfall for PRIVATIZED PRISONS...
They are sucking our kids into Privatized boot camps by the dozens daily. Human beings as a "stock option" for profit is the new "corporate america" and now? they throw in splitting that STOCK up into individual body parts?
sick sick sick
Who cares who gets the organ - it's someone who would have died - maybe elderly, maybe young. Being old and rich doesn't mean you should die. And if someone thinks it's worth 3 years income (I'd go for it) to donate an organ - why should they be kept in poverty just because you don't want their recipient to get it?
recent news report said women in poverty countries sell a kidney for what equals 3 years of income....probably equals month or two income for a political guy. YOUNG HEALTHY MOTHER willing to sell her kidney....probably some old geezer got it, right? the report didn't say anything about her kidney growing back etc. SAD.
clear death row ,donate all organs
Normal people do this all the time too - there's 10% of all organ donations that come from living people - there are those organs that can be donated safely while you are alive. Often it's family, sometimes it's a random stranger who feels called to help someone. Someday it may well be me - I'm on a few registers.
Lose a kidney or go to prison for 180 days.
What would you choose?
And people who need these organs will die without them. It sounds like a wonderful idea, and a wonderful way to pay some part of your debt to society.
SICK SOCIETY!
MODERN CANNIBALISM!
So how many people support the forced castration of babyrapers. How about the voluntary?
- 1
- 2
- next
See all 24 Comments