As you may know, there are prisons that allow your detainees to receive visits from family members in jail - and in some cases they are even entitled to regular intimate encounters with their mates. In general, the idea behind this privilege is not to satisfy the “carnal” needs of prisoners, but to keep alive their connection with the outside world and the family nucleus.

In addition, some studies have indicated that this contact may lead to a decrease in prison violence and criminal recidivism rates. In Brazil, the law was formalized in 1984 and, over the years, it was also extended to incarcerated women, homosexuals and young offenders.

Brazilian prisons

Before visits were properly regulated in Brazil, they usually took place in tents set up in the courtyards of the jails on visiting days, and prison officers turned a blind eye to what was happening inside. After this right was formalized, the meetings passed - or should have passed! - to take place in specially designated places and away from detainees' cells.

Women wait to visit their mates in Sergipe prison

In addition, the competent bodies now require the submission of documents proving marriage or stable union between prisoner and visitor, and in some states medical examinations and the signing of a liability form are required. And in the rest of the world, how do visits happen?

Privileges

Marital visits are allowed in chains around the world, and each country has a different attitude to how they should be conducted. In Qatar, for example, about three years ago, the government announced the creation of small private houses in which prisoners can meet wives and children, and in Turkey a similar system is in place.

Space created for conjugal visits in a chain in France

In Iran and Saudi Arabia, two countries that do not usually care much about human rights, married prisoners have long been allowed to receive visits from their wives. Incidentally, in Saudi Arabia, where men can have multiple wives, those in confinement can receive one conjugal visit per month and generous help from the Government.

Detainees have all the needs of the family covered, and the Government costs child-rearing, food, rent and even trips they may make to visit prisoners, including airfare and hotel stays, if family members need to travel to find their families. arrested.

In addition, if the prisoner receives release to attend family gatherings - such as funerals or weddings - he is still entitled to a $ 2, 600 gift voucher! However, the meetings only take place between legally married persons and, in the case of Saudi Arabia, with individuals of the opposite sex.

More examples

• In Israel, things have gone much further in this direction - compared to the Muslim country - as both heterosexual and homosexual prisoners have the same guaranteed right. In Mexico City, the prison system follows the Israeli example and also allows for intimate same-sex visits.
• In fact, in Latin America, it is not only Mexico and Brazil that allow married and single prisoners to receive conjugal visits, and in certain institutions whole families are even allowed to live with detainees in small communities within jails.

Visiting day in prison in Uruguay

• In Canada, every two months, prisoners are entitled to spend two hours with their wives and their families in an apartment maintained by the prisons, and during that time they are free to do things that ordinary families usually do together, like cooking and playing, for example.
• In India, since 2005, the legal system has considered that having children with wives - either through natural methods or through artificial insemination - is a fundamental right of prisoners.

Families visit Honduran prisoners in jail

• Surprisingly, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland do not allow conjugal visits in prisons, but low-risk detainees may be allowed to go home to see their relatives. In the United States, the privilege exists only in four states - Washington, California, New York, and Connecticut - and only in state jails.