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    Girl Code™

    Girl Code™

    Mission: Eliminating period poverty for incarcerated women and girls.

    Access to quality menstrual products and having products in proper supply is a national public health issue for incarcerated women and girls. This leads to increased instances of toxic shock syndrome, emergency hysterectomies, infertility, infections, and other reproductive ailments among those who are the most vulnerable.

    Through the Girl Code initiative (TM Pending), the first program of its kind in the United States, The Thurman Perry Foundation provides donations of organic, cotton, chlorine-free, dye-free, fragrance-free, and pesticide-free menstrual products monthly to the women housed inside of Orleans Parish Justice Center, quarterly to the women housed inside of East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, and semi-annually to the women housed inside the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women. We recently expanded to the Bedford Hills and Albion Correctional Facilities in New York.

    TPF, in conjunction with the Orleans Parish Justice Center, the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, the Louisiana Correctional Institute for Women, and the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility is proud to assist incarcerated women and girls with getting the period care products they need.

    Our vision is to expand the initiative nationwide by 2030, so that no incarcerated woman goes without necessary feminine hygiene products.

    Products Donated

    Women & Girls Helped

    The Facts

    Women incarcerated in local, state, youth, tribal detention, military, or federal correctional facilities.

    Age of the majority of women incarcerated in state and federal prisons.

    The average number of feminine hygiene products a menstruating woman will use over the course of her lifetime.

    Number of states with no laws mandating that incarcerated women be given menstrual products while housed in correctional facilities.

    Menstrual Mitigation Measures™

    A term published and coined by epidemiologist Gabrielle A. Perry, MPH that describes any action a menstruating person performs in order to manage the flow of their menstrual cycle, control their menstrual hygiene, and otherwise maintain their dignity, especially in periods of socioeconomic scarcity, houselessness, homelessness, and/or incarceration. 
    1. EXAMPLES: 
    a. inserting mattress padding from a prison-issued mattress into one’s vagina 
    b. using day’s old tampons or sanitary pads beyond their effectiveness or vitality
    c. using ripped bed sheets or cutting up old clothes to then line their underwear and protect clothing
    d. free-bleeding at bedtime
    e. subjecting themselves to sexual abuse, rape, and sexual assault by prison staff in exchange for more menstrual health products
    f. and more…

    Periods in Prison: A 4-Part Workshop

    In conjunction with PERIOD, a global youth-fueled nonprofit, TPF has created a 4-part workshop series about period poverty and menstrual equity in U.S. correctional facilities. This groundbreaking curriculum is designed to inform learners of how period poverty uniquely impacts incarcerated women & girls using extensive research done by The Thurman Perry Foundation & PERIOD.

    Explore the curriculum

    The Thurman Perry Foundation Needs You

    With 95% of those incarcerated destined to come home, The Thurman Perry Foundation is committed to ensuring successful reentry for women and girls through direct financial and educational support.

    Help us change the lives of women & girls impacted by incarceration Nationwide by donating today!

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    Founded in memory of late U.S. Army Master Sergeant Thurman Perry Jr., The Thurman Perry foundation was created by his daughter, Gabrielle Perry, MPH, to support women and girls impacted by incarceration. We are a 501c(3) nonprofit organization. EIN 86-2519876.