Abstract

Because of their limited rights within the penal system, prisoners are generally considered to be especially vulnerable to certain kinds of coercion and exploitation. It is in part to protect prisoners from these abuses that their freedom to be living organ donors is restricted. Many in the transplant and bioethics communities support these restrictions based on moral grounds. In this manuscript, we assess these moral arguments and suggest that they may not be sufficiently compelling to justify current restrictions on living organ donation by prisoners.