![]() ![]() Medium and minimum security prisoners who are serving at least 18 months behind bars are eligible for residential visits, which take place in a motel room like setting. One has a focus on maintaining intimate partner relationships, while the other focuses on relationships with children. The Victorian systemĪs Monash University student Rebekah Katona-Staindl outlined in her 2016 thesis, Corrections Victoria has a system of residential visits, which fall into two categories. And as rehabilitation is a basic aim of incarceration, permitting intimate visits would be a practical step in achieving that goal.Ĭurrently, recidivism rates in NSW stand at around 48 percent, which means almost half the more than 13,500 adults being held in the state’s correctional facilities will be sent back to prison for committing further crimes within two years of being released. Mr Collins pointed out that Corrective Services NSW states that the two key factors that prevent ex-prisoners from reoffending are family and employment after prison. “The alternative is a single sex society without sexual relief and a partner outside without intimacy.” the long-time prisoner rights advocate added. ![]() “It normalises the relationship and gives both participants the feeling of community support for them.” “Private visits where sex may or may not occur, but a couple can safely deal with each other privately is very important to relieve the strains and keep the intimacy,” Mr Collins said. Justice Action coordinator Brett Collins explained that the principle behind allowing inmates to spend intimate time with their partners is obvious, as contact with family is essential in preserving those relationships. Conjugal visits not only maintain family ties, but they reduce recidivism, along with prison violence.įurthermore, the UN Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners sets out that “except for those limitations that are demonstrably necessitated by the fact of incarceration, all prisoners shall retain” their human rights and fundamental freedoms.Īnd as a system of intimate partner visitations is operating in Victoria and elsewhere in the world, it’s clear that in all other Australian jurisdictions inmates are being deprived of a right that their imprisonment does not require be withdrawn. There are multiple reasons behind the widespread reluctance to permit conjugal visits: politicians don’t want to appear soft on crime, there’s the stigma associated with the sexual nature of the visits, and the belief that the deprivation of intimate contact is a component of inmate punishment.īut, the opposition to private visitations flies in the face of the evidence from jurisdictions around the globe where their benefits have been shown. Section 38 of the Victorian Corrections Act 1986 provides that the partner of an eligible inmate “may stay with the prisoner in the prison.” However, only Victoria allows private visitations. ![]() Most Australian jurisdictions acknowledge the importance of prisoners maintaining family ties. Indeed, many in the community believe inmates forgo their right to spend intimate time with their spouse or significant other once they step through the prison gates. ![]() “Government of Tamil Nadu is requested to consider implementation of the scheme for extending ‘conjugal rights’ to the prisoners, which is effectively in force in the State of Punjab and Haryana,” Justice Subramaniam said in an official communication sent to the state authorities on July 25 following a ‘surprise inspection’ he conducted in the Puzhal Central Prison in Chennai.The question over whether to permit conjugal visits in Australian gaols is a polarising topic. The state allows visits by spouses for two hours once every two months and the visiting spouse is required to furnish a valid ID, proof of marriage and a medical certificate declaring that he or she does not have HIV or any other sexually transmitted disease. The guidelines issued by the Punjab government though, clarify that conjugal visits cannot be claimed as a right. While some courts, including the Madras High Court have in the past, granted parole to inmates on the grounds of conjugal rights, in September 2022, the State of Punjab implemented a system of allowing an inmate conjugal visits within the prison premises. ![]()
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