Conjugal visit
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A conjugal visit is a scheduled extended visit during which an inmate of a prison is permitted to spend several hours or days in private, usually with a legal spouse. While the parties may engage in sexual intercourse, the generally recognized basis for permitting such a visit in modern times is to preserve family bonds and increase the chances of success for a prisoner's eventual return to life outside prison. Additionally, the incentive of conjugal visits means that inmates are strongly motivated to comply with the various day-to-day rules and regulations of the prison. As a result, inmates consciously avoid any infringement which might disqualify them from having a conjugal visit.
The visit will usually take place in a structure provided for that purpose, such as a trailer or small cabin. Supplies such as soap, condoms, tissues, sheets, pillows, and towels may be provided.[citation needed]
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[edit] Country
[edit] Australia
In Australia, conjugal visits are permitted in the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria.[1]
[edit] Brazil
In Brazil, male prisoners are eligible to be granted conjugal visits for both heterosexual and homosexual relationships, while women's conjugal visits are tightly regulated, if granted at all.[1]
[edit] Canada
In Canada, all inmates, with the exception of those on disciplinary restrictions or at risk for family violence, are permitted "Private Family Visits" of up to 72 hours' duration once every two months. Eligible visitors, who may not themselves be prison inmates, are: spouse, or common-law partner of at least six months; children; parents; foster parents; siblings; grandparents; and "persons with whom, in the opinion of the institutional head, the inmate has a close familial bond." Food is provided by the institution but paid by the inmates and visitors, who are also responsible for cleaning the unit after the visit. During a visit, staff members have regular contact with the inmate and visitors.[2]
[edit] Cuba
In Cuba, conjugal visits have been allowed for years. Every prisoner is given at least four family or conjugal visits per year.
[edit] Denmark
In Denmark, conjugal visits have been allowed for years. The new prison in Jutland "Statsfængslet Østjylland" (East Jutland State Prison) has apartments for couples, where inmates who have been sentenced to more than 8 years in prison can have visitation for 47 hours per visit.[3]
[edit] France
France allows prisoners who have earned the right to a conjugal visit to stay in decorated home-like apartments during extended visits.
[edit] Ireland
Marie and Noel Murray, an anarchist married couple imprisoned for a 1976 murder, lost a 1991 appeal for conjugal rights.[4] The Supreme Court ruled that the Constitutional right to beget children within marriage was suspended while a spouse was lawfully imprisoned.[5]
[edit] Mexico
Specifically in Mexico City, in July 2007, the prison system in that city has begun to allow gay prisoners to have conjugal visits from their partners, on the basis of a 2003 law which bans discrimination based on sexual orientation.[6]
[edit] Russia
In the Russian penal system, since a campaign of prison reform that began in 2001, well-behaved prisoners are granted an eighteen-day holiday furlough from incarceration to see loved ones. Prisoners also get extended on-site family visits, approximately once per month.[7]
[edit] Saudi Arabia
In Saudi Arabia, conjugal visits have been allowed for years.
[edit] United Kingdom
Neither the English, Scottish nor Northern Irish prison system allow conjugal visits, and political pressure to punish criminals makes it a difficult issue to suggest. However, home visits, with a greater emphasis on building other links with the outside world to which the prisoner will be returned, are allowed.[8]
[edit] United States
In the United States, inmates must meet certain requirements to qualify for this privilege, for example, no violation of the rules in the past month, history of good behavior, and so on. Those imprisoned in medium or maximum security facilities and inmates on death row may be permitted visits, but are subject to stricter requirements to obtain these visits.[citation needed]
The visitor may be required to undergo a background check, and the inmate must also be free of any sexually transmitted diseases. As a matter of procedure, both visitor and inmate are searched before and after the visit, to ensure that the visitor has not attempted to smuggle any items in or out of the facility.
Over the last 40 years, most new prisons included special buildings specifically designed for "Sunday visits." Today, conjugal visitation programs, also known as the Extended Family Visit, survive in only seven states: California, Connecticut, Mississippi, New Mexico, New York, Washington and South Dakota.
In June 2007, California's Department of Corrections announced it would allow same-sex conjugal visits. The policy was enacted to comply with a 2005 state law requiring state agencies to give the same rights to domestic partners that heterosexual couples receive. The new rules allow for visits only by registered domestic partners who are not themselves incarcerated. Further, the domestic partnership must have been established before the prisoner was incarcerated.[9]
[edit] See also
- Same-sex conjugal visit, in the article LGBT people in prison
[edit] References
- ^ BBC News "Sex on sentence"
- ^ ""Private Family Visiting"". Correctional Service of Canada. http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/text/pblct/visit/index-eng.shtml. Retrieved 2008-12-29.
- ^ "Statsfængslet Østjylland" - Prison Homepage - visitation from family
- ^ "Programme 2: Garda Michael Reynolds". Garda ar Lár. RTÉ. http://www.rte.ie/tv/gardaarlar/prog2.html. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
- ^ "Constitutional right to beget children within marriage is suspended while one spouse is lawfully imprisoned". The Irish Times: p. 21. 27 May 1991. http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/archive/1991/0527/Pg021.html#Ar02100. Retrieved 2009-11-18.
- ^ BBC NEWS Americas Mexico allows gay conjugal visits
- ^ After the Gulag: conjugal visits, computers...and a hint of violence - Times Online
- ^ Enhanced Home Leave 11-1-06
- ^ Calif. gay inmates get conjugal visits - Life - MSNBC.com
