Tampons need to be changed more often than pads or else you risk sepsis. So I was operating on the assumption that they were using pads as, while unhygienic and unhealthy, wearing a pad for longer than you should generally only increases your chances of infections but not necessarily death. Also you are much better off with a cheap terrible pad than you are a cheap terrible tampon. Cheap ones don’t work as well, don’t fit as well and tend to be … scratchy. And there are just places that you really really don’t want to be in direct contact with scratchy fibers for hours at a time. Just… no. Tampons when used properly are great and wonderful things, but in prison conditions pads are a safer bet. I agree with you, prison should be the punishment, inmates shouldn’t be further shamed and tormented by being denied access to period supplies.