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Conjugal Visit Laws by State 2024

California refers to these visits as contact visits. Conjugal visits have had a notorious past recently in the United States , as they were often not allowed to see their family unless it was for brief contact or to speak with them on the phone. Conjugal visits began as a way for an incarcerated partner to spend private time with their domestic partner, spouse, or life partner. Historically, these were granted as a result of mental health as well as some rights that have since been argued in court. For example, cases have gone to the Supreme Court which have been filed as visits being considered privileges instead of rights.

The right to procreate, religious freedom, marital privacy and to abstain from cruel and unusual punishment has been brought up and observed by the court. Of course, married spouses can't procreate if one is incarcerated, and this has been a topic of hot debate in the legal community for years. Although the rules have since been relaxed to allow more private time with one's family, especially to incentivize good behavior and rehabilitation, it is still a controversy within social parameters.

In 1993, only 17 states had conjugal visit programs, which went down to 6 in 2000. By 2015, almost all states had eliminated the need for these programs in favor of more progressive values. California was one of the first to create a program based around contact visits, which allows the inmate time with their family instead of "private time" with their spouses as a means of forced love or procreation.

Washington and Connecticut

Connecticut and Washington have similar programs within their prison systems, referring to conjugal visits as extended family visits. Of course, the focus has been to take the stigma away from conjugal visits as a means of procreation, a short time, and a privilege as a result of good behavior. Extended family visits are much more wholesome and inclusive, giving relatively ample time to connect with one's family, regardless if they have a partner or not. Inmates can see their children, parents, cousins, or anyone who is deemed to have been, and still is, close to the prisoner.

Of course, there are proponents of this system that say this aids rehabilitation in favor of being good role models for their children or younger siblings. Others feel if someone has committed a heinous crime, their rights should be fully stripped away to severely punish their behavior.

On a cheerier note, New York has named its program the "family reunion program", which is an apt name for the state that holds the largest city in America by volume, New York City. NYC's finest have always had their handful of many different issues, including organized crime. The authorities are seeking a larger change in the incarceration system and want to adopt a stance that focuses more on the rehabilitation of the inmate that shows signs of regret, instead of severe punishment for punishment's sake.

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Access and Visitation Program

Programa de acceso y visitas

The Access & Visitation (AV) Program is a resource for non-custodial parents who seek access to and visitation with their children. Coordinators help identify the underlying issues creating any barriers to parenting time and facilitate non-custodial parents’ access to their children. They are available on site in five counties to provide counseling, parent education, and legal information about the court process as well as make referrals to community services. Parents outside those counties may receive services by phone, email, or Webex by contacting the coordinator designated to that region as indicated below.

AV coordinators accept and actively seek referrals from child support enforcement courts, family court judges, child support enforcement agents, attorneys, human service providers and other sources. The access and visitation coordinators perform individual case management and work to develop and maintain an active presence in the community to inform the public, social service agencies and organizations about the services offered to parents by the Access & Visitation Program. AV coordinators also identify needed services that are not offered in the community and work with local agencies and organizations to seek funding and implement these additional services, such as mentoring programs for fathers and supervised visitation and exchange centers.

AV Program Goals

• Identify underlying issues creating any barriers to non-custodial parents spending time (visiting) with their child(ren)
• To support and facilitate non-custodial parents' access to their child(ren)

AV coordinators provide:

• Parent education
• Legal information about the court process
• Co-parenting resources
• Information about mediation services (private or through the court-ordered Child Custody and Visitation Mediation Program)

The AV coordinator will assess the parent's needs and link the parent to services in the community, such as:

• Health care
• Financial assistance
• Parenting classes
• Support groups
• Job counseling

Eligibility

Non-custodial parents, both mothers and fathers, who are experiencing barriers in gaining access to and visitation with their children.

This includes married and unmarried non-custodial parents who do not have existing court orders for visitation, custody, or child support as well as parents who do have orders for:

• Existing visitation and custody from the court
• Child support established by and from the Department of Social Services
• Private child support

The program emphasizes that both parents should have an active role in their children's lives.

Parent Education

Parent education programs make divorcing parents or parents living in separate homes aware of the needs of their children during and after the separation process. Court-sponsored parent education programs incorporate a video entitled The Most Important Job ( Spanish version ) that provides guidance for parents from professionals as well as from the child's perspective.

Parent Education Program

Counties Served

Five Access & Visitation Coordinators are physically located in Family Court offices. They are available to answer questions from non-custodial parents from all counties in their assigned region.

Do you have a question or concern about the Access and Visitation Program ?

Find contact numbers listed above by county, or view the access and visitation coordinators .

Reckoning with the South

This couple wants you to know that conjugal visits are only legal in 4 states

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Editor's note: This story was co-written by inside-outside couple Steve Higginbotham and Jordana Rosenfeld, weaving together Jordana's personal experience and reporting with letters from Steve. Together, they examine popular myths around conjugal visits, their decreasing availability, and the punitive logic behind the state's policing of sex and intimacy that stifles relationships like theirs.   Jordana's words appear below in the orange boxes on the right; Steve's are in the purple on the left.

The other day, when I told my grandmother I was researching the history of conjugal visits for an essay, she said, "Oh, like in my stories?" 

You can't talk about conjugal visits without talking about television, because television is pretty much the only place where conjugal visits still exist. A wide variety of TV shows either joke about or dramatize conjugal visits, from popular sitcoms that have little to nothing to do with prison life, like The Simpsons , Family Guy , and Seinfeld, to prestige dramas like Prison Break and Oz that purport to offer "gritty" and "realistic" prison tales. Conjugals loom large in public imagination about life in prison, which leaves people under the unfortunate impression that they are in any kind of way widespread or accessible.

Their availability has been in steady decline for more than 25 years. The mid-to-late 1990s are the often-cited high point of conjugal visits , with 17 states offering some kind of program. (Federal and maximum security prisons do not allow conjugals.) This means that at their most widespread, conjugal visits were only ever permitted in one-third of all states. 

There are only four U.S. states that currently allow conjugal visits, often called "extended" or "family" visits: California, Connecticut, New York, and Washington. Some people say Connecticut's program doesn't count though, when it comes to conjugals—and the Connecticut Department of Corrections agrees. Their family visit program is explicitly intended for the benefit of children and requires that the incarcerated person receiving visitors be a parent. Their child must attend . 

My boyfriend has been in prison for 28 years. He was 18 during the high point of conjugal visit programs. That's when the state of Missouri decided to lock him up for the rest of his natural life, effectively sentencing him to a lifetime of deep loneliness and sexual repression, not just because Missouri doesn't offer conjugal visits, but because when you are incarcerated, your body belongs to the state in every possible way—from your labor to your sex life. 

Every prison riot ever could have been prevented with some properly organized fucking.

That's my boyfriend, Steve.

Not being able to physically express love—or even lust—builds frustration that boils over in unintended ways. 

Intimacy is policed rigidly in prison, and it has certainly worsened over the years. For most people with incarcerated lovers, intimacy happens not on a conjugal visit, but in the visiting room. Visits now may start and end with a brief embrace and chaste kiss. Open mouth kissing has been outlawed. These rules are enforced with terminated visits and even removing a person from the visiting list for a year or more.

Steve and I have kissed a total of six times.

We have also hugged six times, if you don't count us posing with his arm over my shoulder three times for pictures. The kisses were so brief that I'm not sure I remember what they felt like. He told me later on the phone that he knew he had to be the one to pull away from the kiss before we gave the COs in the bubble reason to intervene because I wouldn't. He knew this, somehow, before he ever kissed me. He was right. 

When I last visited him in Jefferson City Correctional Center, Steve told me about a real conjugal visit from '90s Missouri.

Years ago, people used to mess around in the visiting room at Potosi [Correctional Center]. Everyone knew to keep their sensitive visitors away from a certain area, because there was frequent sex behind a vending machine. I can neither confirm nor deny that cops were paid to turn a blind eye to it. I met a guy recently in my wing at JCCC who said he had heard of me, and that maybe I knew his father. I did know his father. I didn't have the heart to tell him that I probably saw his conception behind a Coke machine back in 1995.

The increasing restriction of physical touch—the expanded video surveillance of visiting spaces, the use of solitary confinement for the smallest infractions, and the withering of both in-person and conjugal visit programs—reflects the punitive logic that consensual human touch is a privilege that incarcerated people do not deserve.

This is an evil proposition, and it's one that is at the core of the ongoing dehumanization of millions of people in U.S. prisons, and the millions of people like me who love them. 

One woman with an incarcerated partner put it to researchers this way: "The prison system appears to be set up to break families up." And she's right. For the duration of his incarceration, I will never be closer to Steve than the state of Missouri is. I'm reminded during each of our timed kisses: His primary partner is the state. 

The most difficult part for me about a romantic relationship with a free woman is that I feel selfish. A lot of self-loathing thoughts creep in. I want the best for her and often question if I am that "best." However, an added benefit is that we can truly take things slowly and explore each other in ways that two free people don't often experience nowadays. We write emails daily. And these are important. We vent. And listen. We continue to build, whereas many free people stop building at consummation. 

But these are the realities rarely captured in media portrayals of romantic relationships between free world and incarcerated partners. Conjugals on TV are so disconnected from what it's actually like to be in a romantic relationship with an incarcerated person: Trying to schedule my life around precious 15 minute phone calls, paying 25 cents to send emails monitored by correctional officers, finding ways to symbolically include Steve in my life, like leaving open the seat next to me at the movies. Instead, television shows depict implausible scenarios of nefarious rendezvous that often parrot law enforcement lies. When they do so, they undermine the public's ability to conceptualize that love and commitment fuel relationships like ours. 

Although contraband typically enters prisons through staff , not visitors , television shows often present conjugal visits as a cover for smuggling, like in the earliest TV plot I could find involving a conjugal visit, from a 1986 Miami Vice episode. After his girlfriend is killed, Tubbs gets depressed enough to agree to go undercover at a state prison to bust some guards selling cocaine. In his briefing on the issue, Tubbs asks how the drugs are getting into the prison. Conjugal visits and family visits are the first two methods named by the prison commissioner, never mind that I have yet to find any evidence that Florida ever allowed those kinds of visits. 

Often, the excuse for policing visits so strictly is that drugs can be exchanged. But I know that lie is used for every type of control in prison. For over a year we had NO CONTACT visits because of the pandemic. During that time, dozens of inmates [at my facility] still overdosed and had drug-related episodes that caused them to need medical attention. Those drugs certainly didn't arrive through visits. They strip search and X-ray me going to and from visits anyway.

Everything in prison now is on camera. When a drug overdose occurs, the investigators track back over footage from visiting room cameras. One officer told me that while they were investigating drugs allegedly passing through the visiting room, they saw a guy covertly fingering his wife. This has happened on more than one occasion, but most guards will have enough of a heart not to bother with violations for some covert touching that wasn't caught until the camera review. Most. Sometimes, a rare asshole will just have to assert his power and write a CDV (conduct violation).

Write-ups or CDVs are given by staff at their discretion. The threat of solitary confinement is always looming in prison. It's another clever way of withholding physical interactions with other human beings as a form of torture. Solitary confinement for anywhere from 10 days to three months is a favorite punishment for "[nonviolent] sexual misconduct. " 

There's also a persistent media narrative that prison systems offer conjugal visit programs out of genuine concern for human welfare. A brief glance at the origins of conjugal visits in the U.S. prison system quickly disproves that theory, showing that conjugal visit programs were conceived as a tool of exploitation and social control. 

Conjugal visits originated in Mississippi at the infamous prison plantation, Mississippi State Penitentiary, or Parchman Farm. Mississippi state officials opened Parchman in the early 1900s, writes historian David Oshinsky in his book Worse than Slavery: Parchman Farm and the Ordeal of Jim Crow Justice, in order to ensnare free Black people into forced labor. Mississippi, like other Southern states during Reconstruction, passed "Black Codes" that assigned harsh criminal penalties to minor "offenses" such as vagrancy, loitering, living with white people, and not carrying proof of employment—behaviors that were not considered criminal when done by white people. Using the crime loophole in the relatively new 13th Amendment, Mississippi charged thousands of Black people with crimes and forced them to work on the state's plantation. 

Parchman officials started offering sex to Black prisoners as a productivity incentive, "because prison officials wanted as much work as possible from their Negro convicts, whom they believed to have greater sexual needs than whites," Oshinsky writes.

"I never saw it, but I heard tell of truckloads of whores bein' sent up from Cleveland at dusk," said a Parchman prison official quoted by Oshinsky. "The cons who had a good day got to get 'em right there between the rows. In my day, we got civilized—put 'em up in little houses and told everybody that them whores was wives. That kept the Baptists off our backs." 

A certain kind of sexual morality has been instilled in the minds of many people with conservative religious upbringings. They naturally force this morality on people they consider children. That is how many guards see prisoners: as children.

Many states did not begin to join Mississippi in offering conjugal visits until much later in the century, when conservative governors like California's Ronald Reagan would determine in 1968 that allowing some married men to have sex with their wives was the best way to reduce " instances of homosexuality " in prisons. 

Abolitionists who wrote the book Queer (In)Justice , consider how concerned prison administrations have historically been and continue to be about queer sex in prisons. The book exposes both the deep fear of the liberatory potential of queer sexuality, and a broader reality that prisons are inherently queer places since prisons' "denial of sexual intimacy and agency is a quintessential queer experience." 

Beyond behavioral control, the rules that determine conjugal visit eligibility are always also about enforcing criminality, since the state decides what kind of charges render someone ineligible to wed or to have an extended visit. Even in the four states that allow these visits, most people with "violent" charges are only allowed to hold their lover's hand and briefly embrace at the beginning and end of visits.

We don't even have enough privacy to masturbate. 

I can be written up if anyone sees my dick, especially in the act of masturbation. I could face solitary confinement, loss of job, visits, religious programs, treatment classes, recreation, canteen spend, and school for getting written up. Conversely, I can be strip-searched at any given time and be forced to show everything.  

Living in this fishbowl has taught me there is no hiding. Too many bored eyes in the same small area to miss anything. Guards may come knocking on the door at any moment. My cellmate is often inches away from me, and it takes coordination to manage time away from each other because we eat, sleep, go to yard, and do just about everything on the same schedule. 

I choose to skip a meal occasionally and embrace the hunger, because it is much less painful than persistent relentless desire. After years of self-release in showers, in a room with snoring cellmates, or as quickly as possible when a brief moment of privacy occurs, my sex drive is all shook up. Current turn-ons could be said to include faucets running and/or snoring men.

Ultimately, this article is not about the right to conjugal visits. It's about the ways that punitive isolation and deprivation of loving physical contact have always been tactics of the U.S. prison system. 

Regardless of the quality of the representations, the prevalence of conjugal visits in movies and TV allows people to avoid thinking too hard about what it's like to be deprived of your sexual autonomy, maybe the rest of your life.

I have been locked up since I was 18, and I am 47 now. To be horny in prison for decades is painful. To the body and soul. 

There is justice as well as pleasure at stake here, and the difference between the two is slight. 

People who love someone in prison live shorter and harder lives. That we do it anyway shows the significance, centrality, and life-affirming nature of intimate relationships to those on both sides of the wall. Maybe it even points to the abolitionist power of romantic and sexual love between incarcerated and "free" people.

So, I guess we start with that thought and work from there to find a way to tear down the system.

As part of Scalawag's 3rd annual Abolition Week,  pop justice  is exclusively featuring perspectives from currently and formerly incarcerated folks and systems-impacted folks.

More in pop justice:.

'It's not a story—it's a life:' A look at Snapped, from the inside

Barbie: Pretty Police

Come on Barbie, give us nothing!

"Pull up your pants or go to jail!"

Related stories:, steve higginbotham & jordana rosenfeld.

Steve Higginbotham is a writer who spent many years narrating and transcribing materials into braille for the Missouri Center for Braille & Narration Production . He is serving a death by incarceration sentence in Jefferson City, Missouri. Jordana Rosenfeld is a journalist in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. More of her work can be found at jordanarosenfeld.com .

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What is a conjugal visit?

Conjugal visits allow couples and family members to be reunited for extended visits in medium-security facilities...

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Conjugal visits are private visits that allow married couples to spend time alone, engaging in companionship and sexual relations. They are also for families to reunite (up to three family members), where children and siblings can be a part of the visit, as well (in Connecticut, children are required to be part of the conjugal visit). They are only available in medium-security facilities.

Sometimes they're referred to as extended visits or family visits or family renunion visits, and they can last for 1-72 hours, depending upon the facility.

Although many believe that such visits have value in helping to rehabilitate inmates, reduce recidivism rates, and strenghten family bonds, this extension of family visitation rights has nearly disappeared across the USA. There are no federal prisons that offer conjugal visits, and very few states permit them (California, Washington, New York and Connecticut still permit conjugal visits). Only inmates with a proven good behavior record are eligible.

To find out how to visit someone you know, begin your search for an inmate or arrestee here:

To find your jail or prison visitation policies, begin by finding the facility or prison system here:

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As Conjugal Visits Fade, a Lifeline to Inmates’ Spouses Is Lost

By Kim Severson

• Jan. 12, 2014

PARCHMAN, Miss. — To spend time alone with the man she married four months ago, Ebony Fisher, 25, drives nearly three hours through the flat cotton fields of the Mississippi Delta until she pulls into a gravel lot next to the state’s rural penitentiary.

She joins her husband, who in 2008 began serving a 60-year sentence for rape, aggravated assault and arson, in a small room with a metal bunk and a bathroom. For an hour, they get to act like a married couple.

“That little 60 minutes isn’t a lot of time, but I appreciate it because we can just talk and hold each other and be with each other,” said Ms. Fisher, who is studying to be a surgical assistant.

But conjugal visits, a concept that started here at the Mississippi State Penitentiary as a prisoner-control practice in the days of Jim Crow, will soon be over. Christopher B. Epps, the prison commissioner, plans to end the program Feb. 1, citing budgetary reasons and “the number of babies being born possibly as a result.” In Mississippi, where more than 22,000 prisoners are incarcerated — the second-highest rate in the nation — 155 inmates participated last year.

Since they began here in the early 1900s, when the penitentiary was just called Parchman Farm, conjugal visits have been an unlikely barometer of racial mores and changing times both in Mississippi and in states like California and New York, where married same-sex couples can participate.

In the 1970s, new prisons often included special housing for what had come to be called extended family visits. But by 1993, only 17 states allowed conjugal visits. Mississippi is one of just five that have active programs.

In California and New York, they are called family visits and are designed to help keep families together in an environment that approximates home. Some research shows that they can help prisoners better integrate back into the mainstream after their release.

Visits in those states, and in Washington and New Mexico, can last 24 hours to three days. They are spent in small apartments or trailers, often with children and grandparents, largely left alone by prison guards. Visitors bring their own food and sometimes have a barbecue.

In New York, about 8,000 family visits were arranged last year, a figure that corrections officials say has declined. Of those, 48 percent were with spouses. The rest were with family members such as children or parents.

Studies cited by Yale law students in a 2012 review of family visitation programs showed that the programs could work as powerful incentives for good behavior, help reduce sexual activity among prisoners and help strengthen families.

Though what qualifies prisoners for the visits varies from state to state, all must have records of good behavior and be legally married. In most, prisoners in maximum security or on death row are denied the visits. Federal prisons do not allow them.

Mississippi ended its more extensive family visitations last year but left in place the hourlong visits, which since their inception a century ago have been designed more as a way to control inmates than nurture relationships.

“Conjugal visits have been a privilege,” said Tara Booth, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Corrections Department. “So in that sense, it has, as other internal opportunities, helped to maintain order.”

The notion of allowing prisoners to have sex was born here shortly after Parchman Farm opened in 1903 as a series of work camps on 1,600 acres of rich Delta farmland. Inmates, most of whom were black, were used as free farm labor in an arrangement not that far removed from slavery.

Set in the middle of the birthplace of the blues, Parchman Farm has been the subject of many songs written by classic bluesmen like Bukka White and others who did time here.

The warden at the time believed sex could be used to compel black men to work harder in the fields, according to a history on the practice produced in the 1970s by Tyler Fletcher, who founded the department of criminal justice at the University of Southern Mississippi in 1973. So black prisoners were allowed time on Sunday with spouses or, more often, prostitutes.

By the 1940s, makeshift lean-tos and shacks built by inmates for the visits gave way to formal facilities, and white inmates were more likely participants than black ones.

Announced in December, the decision to stop the hourlong conjugal visits came as a surprise to the handful of prison spouses who rely on them. Several have taken to Facebook and other online forums and written to lawmakers to try to save what they say is an essential part of their relationships. A Mississippi prisoners’ advocacy group and a Memphis-based civil rights organization have planned a rally for Friday in Jackson, the state capital, to protest the policy change.

But State Representative Richard Bennett, Republican of Long Beach, wants the practice stopped, and he said no amount of protest would change his mind.

He said he learned about conjugal visits a few years ago when an elementary school principal told him a student of hers had shown up with a photograph of a new sibling. The student’s mother was incarcerated. The baby had been conceived during a conjugal visit.

In 2012, Mr. Bennett introduced a bill to end the visits. It did not get much attention, so he will try again when the Legislature meets this month. He said he was aware of Mr. Epps’s plans, but wanted a permanent ban. Officials have not offered any figures on the number of babies born or the program’s cost.

“I don’t think it’s fair to the children conceived and to the taxpayers,” he said. “You are in prison for a reason. You are in there to pay your debt, and conjugal visits should not be part of the deal.”

But Tina Perry, 49, a production manager at a small newspaper in eastern Mississippi, said the spouses of prisoners should not be forced to suffer any more than they already do. And the state, she said, should not take away something that is inexpensive and infrequent but essential.

She has been visiting her husband in prison every couple of months for eight years. He is serving time for molesting his former wife’s daughter, and has 19 more years to go. Ms. Perry said he was innocent. She called the surroundings, a small room with a thin mattress, “nasty” but said it was an hour she treasured nonetheless.

“It’s your husband,” she said. “You take what you can get.”

Ms. Fisher, whose husband is facing 60 years, said she was heartbroken because no more conjugal visits meant no children.

“Let me have that option,” she said. “I feel like they are taking away my choice.”

But officials who want the practice to be stopped say the state should not be helping to produce children who will be raised by single parents and possibly need state support.

There are concerns, too, about cost and H.I.V. transmission.

Women interviewed about the visits said they would be willing to pay to defray costs. And they made it clear that the visits were not about the sex. They are about privacy in a world where every letter is opened, every call monitored. Regular visits are crowded with other prisoners and their families.

“You never just get husband and wife time,” said Amy Parsons, an office worker in Arkansas who drives eight hours to see her husband, who was convicted of aggravated assault. His release date is 2022.

“It’s not romantic, but it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I just want people to realize it’s about the alone time with your husband. I understand they are in there for a reason. Obviously they did something wrong. But they are human, too. So are we.”

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What Is a Conjugal Visit?

Even though conjugal visitations play a significant role in the lives of inmates and their families, very few incarcerated individuals have access to them. 

Suppose you or your spouse is in a correctional institution. In that case, you may find the following sections regarding conjugal visitation helpful in understanding the possible benefits of such visits for you and your family.

 Additionally, you may gain relevant insight regarding the rules and processes of conjugal visits.

Our online site, lookupinmate.org , contains additional information regarding state provisions for married inmates. 

Furthermore, you can also use our website’s search tool to locate inmates in various correctional institutions in the United States.

Conjugal Visitation: A Privilege or a Right?

The United States criminal justice system indicates that conjugal visitation is a privilege and a right of inmates’ spouses. 

Conjugal and Extended Visitation Are Highly Regulated Privileges  

Generally, inmates and visitors must submit applications before the authorities allow them an extended family or conjugal visit.

The following list shows the typical rules regarding such visitations:

• The requesting prisoner should have a clean prison record and no violent offenses
• Institutions do not allow inmates who received sentences due to child abuse or domestic violence conjugal visits
• Extended family visits typically do not apply to inmates housed in low-security facilities

Moreover, state or local jurisdictions determine eligible visitors. Usually, the visitor is a family member, has a record of inmate visitation in prison (or a legitimate reason for not doing so), and undergoes a background check.

Furthermore, institutions strictly prohibit smuggling drugs, alcohol, cell phones, or other electronic gadgets. Additionally, there may be other constraints, including limits on gifts or food.

In some cases, authorities may deny visitors entry for not wearing appropriate clothing.

Who Is Eligible for Conjugal Visitation?

Typically, inmates who have a record of good behavior while in prison are eligible for conjugal visits. However, prison officials usually exclude individuals convicted of domestic violence and sex crimes and those serving life sentences from the eligibility list.

Conjugal visits are private periods an inmate spends with a spouse. The purpose behind such visits is to permit inmates to have intimate contact with their partners, including sexual intercourse.

On the other hand, the following list includes individuals who can visit eligible inmates during non-conjugal family visitations:

• Adoptive parents
• Biological parents
• Registered domestic partners
• Foster parents
• Natural and adopted children
• Grandparents

How Conjugal Visits Work

Generally, inmates must have a proven track record of clean conduct before they can be eligible for a conjugal visit. However, their visitors must also undergo several background checks before the day of visitation.

Moreover, visitors must also submit to a physical search for prison contraband, such as weapons, drugs, or alcohol. 

Rules for Conjugal Visits

Listed below are some actual rules that individuals may encounter during conjugal visitations:

• The visitor must be at the jail at least an hour before the designated time for an extended family visit.
• Guests should provide a valid ID card to enter the facility.
• Visitors must know that while using the correctional facility, they must adhere to all rules and regulations.
• The day’s officer or desk officer is responsible for checking the conjugal visiting logbook to see if the visitor is on time.
• Visitors must consent to the searchers’ complete examination of their personal property.
• Visitors sometimes submit to a strip search and a visual bodily cavity search without written consent.
• Upon entry, visitors receive a visitor’s tag, which they must wear at all times while inside the facility.

Waiting List

Inmates must exhibit excellent prison behavior and serve at least 90 days of their sentence to get on the waiting list in any state that allows overnight visits. Moreover, institutions typically exclude lifers and sex offenders from participating in conjugal visits.

States Have Different Rules

In the United States, each state has various rules regarding conjugal visitations, or “extended family visits.” 

A 1981 report stated that the following states were the only regions in the U.S. that had conjugal visitation programs for inmates:

• South Carolina
• Mississippi

Following the report, various states changed their position regarding conjugal visits. For instance, at the beginning of 2000, South Carolina and Minnesota were off the list, and New Mexico and Connecticut had extended visitation policies.

However, despite being the first state to initiate conjugal visitation programs in the U.S., the Department of Corrections in Mississippi ended the privilege in 2016. 

How Often Can Prisoners Have Visitors?

Conjugal prison visits may range from one hour to three days and typically occurs monthly.

Where Do Conjugal Visits Take Place?

The conjugal visits usually take place in small apartments, trailers, or “family cottages” established for such visits.

How Do t he Living Spaces Look?

Living spaces for conjugal visits are units that imitate homes. These areas include a bedroom, dining room, and living room with a TV, board games, playing cards, and dominoes.

Do Conjugal Visits Help Preserve Families?

Research indicates that family visits positively impact incarcerated individuals and their family members. 

New York even refers to its conjugal visits as the “Family Reunion Program” (FRP).

Why Allow Extended Family Visitation Time?

Studies suggest that family visitation programs can result in the following benefits for inmates and their loved ones:

• Better health
• Improvement in school performance
• Decreased recidivism (the tendency of inmates to re-offend)

Extended family visits may also strengthen the family bond.

Furthermore, studies suggest that incarcerated individuals who can have romantic and family visits are less likely to engage in violence and other criminal behavior.

Do Prisons Allow Conjugal Visits?

The following sections describe the guidelines for conjugal visits in two different correctional facilities: federal and state prisons .

Federal Prisons

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons does not allow conjugal visitations for prisoners under federal supervision.

State Prisons

The availability of conjugal visits for inmates held in state custody depends on the state’s laws. 

In places where the state allows conjugal visits, inmates must fulfill specific criteria to qualify for this privilege. Moreover, their visitors also need to pass a background check.

What Happens During Conjugal Visits in Prison?

Inmates get to bond with their loved ones during conjugal visits. The visiting family members can watch a movie, play games, or eat together with their incarcerated loved ones.

What Do Correctional Officers Do During Conjugal Visits?

Correctional officers supervise and monitor conjugal visitations. Consequently, in many cases, these officials routinely check the inmate and the visitor during such visits.

History of Conjugal Visits

The following sections briefly describe the origin and reception of conjugal visits.

How Did Conjugal Visit Start? Did It Involve Sex?  

Conjugal visits may have begun in 1918 at Parchman Farm, a boot camp in Mississippi. 

Such visitations served as a haphazard, paternalistic incentive scheme for black prisoners. Specifically, these visits mean that these individuals may engage in sexual intercourse on a given Sunday if they put in much effort working in prison.

Were Conjugal Visits Founded on a Racist Premise?

The concept of conjugal visits has its roots in a racially discriminating premise.

For instance, prison administrators thought allowing black individuals to participate in sexual behavior would increase their productivity.

The officers also believed black men had more robust sex drives than white men. Consequently, buses packed with women would show up every weekend to get intimate with the black prisoners.

Authorities considered conjugal visits to sustain black prisoners through a six-day work week of taxing labor and conditions.

However, conjugal visits now encompass longer time with the family due to various advocacies. 

Even the Parchman Farm had improved by the 1960s. For example, institutions permitted regular visitations, initiated furlough programs, and built cabins so that offenders could spend time alone with their significant others.

Conjugal Visitation in American Prisons Today

The U.S. Supreme Court and federal courts have pronounced that inmates do not have a constitutional right to conjugal visitation.

Most states do not allow individuals serving their sentences in jail or prison to spend private time with a spouse or domestic partner. However, some states have enacted policies permitting eligible individuals to enjoy “extended family visits.”

The term “extended family visit” sometimes refers to conjugal visits. However, the phrase can also mean an opportunity for prisoners to spend time with their families and children.

Still, prisoners can have alone time with their spouses or significant others during a conjugal visit. These visits aim to enable inmates to engage in sexual activity with their partners.

Additionally, a conjugal or extended family visit may take a few hours or all night long, depending on the state’s extended family visitation program.

Why Conjugal Visitations Are Disappearing 

Seventeen states allowed overnight visits in 1993. However, only California, New York, and Washington continued their conjugal visitation programs because other states worried about safety, pregnancy, and the perception that such trips are needless or pricey.

Which States Still Allow Conjugal Visitation Programs?  

Today, only four states have rules that allow extended visits: New York, Washington, California, and Connecticut.

What Happens During Overnight Visits ?

Extended family visits or overnight visits occasionally involve intimate relations between inmates and their legal spouses.

However, the visitation is also an opportunity for inmates to reconnect with their children.

What Everyone Gets Wrong

Conjugal visits are not just about sex and “family visits,” meaning kids can stay overnight. 

For example, a spouse or partner in Connecticut cannot enter the facility without the inmate’s child.  

In the state, just around a third of lengthy visits are between spouses.

Do Other Countries Have Conjugal Visits Too?

Other countries also allow conjugal visitations. However, these countries are very few, and most do not have a positive stance regarding extended family visits.

The U.S. is not the only country becoming more restrictive regarding conjugal visits. 

Great Britain and Northern Ireland have also prohibited such visitations.  However, these countries allow home visits, emphasizing links with the outside world to which the inmate will return. 

Moreover, authorities only grant home visits to prisoners who have a few weeks to a few months remaining of a long sentence.

On the other hand, countries like Germany allow conjugal visits through a rigorous screening process. 

Some reports indicate that prisoners may sometimes lie regarding their relationship with particular visitors to get them passes for conjugal visits. For example, inmates may claim that one of their guests is a family member even though it is not true.

A Stay at the “Boneyard”

In the United States, regions that perpetuate conjugal visitation programs may refer to living spaces for extended family visits as “boneyards.” 

Check With a Lawyer

The rules and regulations governing prison visits are constantly changing.

Contact the prison authorities or seek legal advice from a professional familiar with the local legislation if you have any issues concerning conjugal or extended visitor privileges in your state.

• Which countries have liberal policies on conjugal visits ?

The countries with liberal policies regarding conjugal visitations are possibly Brazil and Venezuela. Their prison systems may sometimes allow individuals to visit inmates weekly. 

• Do conjugal visits get interrupted periodically ?

Prison officers routinely interrupt the visitor and the inmate for searches before and after visits. The purpose of these interruptions is to ensure no contraband smuggling.

• Can same-sex couples take part in conjugal visitations ?

Each state or nation differs regarding same-sex visitations for incarcerated individuals.

For example, in the U.S., only California and New York states have policies that allow same-sex conjugal visits.

In contrast, Brazil grants conjugal rights to homosexual inmates. 

• Do inmates get “stripped in and out?”

Occasionally, prison officers would strip-search visitors and conduct alcohol and drug tests. However, in most cases, guests merely need to go through a metal detector.

• Do death row inmates get conjugal visits?

Death row inmates are not entitled to conjugal visits, even in states that do it for other convicts. Additionally, no state formally allows such visits for death row inmates.

• Are conjugal visits free for the prisoners?

In most states that allow conjugal visits, the visitation is free. However, Washington State requires a fee of five to ten dollars per night.

1. Conjugal Visitation: Prisoner’s Privilege or Spouse’s Right https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/conjugal-visitation-prisoners-privilege-or-spouses-right 2. Prison Law Office https://prisonlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Family-Visiting-Feb2019.pdf 3. Conjugal Visitation in American Prisons Today https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/conjugal-visitation-american-prisons-today 4. Mississippi First to Begin Conjugal Visits, Latest to End Them https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2016/jan/11/mississippi-first-begin-conjugal-visits-latest-end-them/ 5. Conjugal Visits https://www.themarshallproject.org/2015/02/11/conjugal-visits 6. Research roundup: The positive impacts of family contact for incarcerated people and their families https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2021/12/21/family_contact/ 7. General Visiting Information https://www.bop.gov/inmates/visiting.jsp 8. Brazil: Homosexual Inmates Granted Right to Conjugal Visits https://www.loc.gov/item/global-legal-monitor/2011-07-06/brazil-homosexual-inmates-granted-right-to-conjugal-visits/

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Silent Partner

MARRIAGE AND ANNULMENT

INTRODUCTION: SILENT PARTNER is a lawyer-to-lawyer resource for military legal assistance attorneys. It is an attempt to explain broad generalities about the law of domestic relations. It is, of course, very general in nature since no handout can answer every specific question. Comments, corrections and suggestions regarding this pamphlet should be sent to the address at the end of the last page.

GENERAL OVERVIEW

There are two types of marriage -- ceremonial marriages and common law marriages. The requirements for a valid ceremonial marriage include, in all states, a marriage license. A physical exam is not a requirement in all states, but this is needed in most states.

The capacity to marry involves both age and "general capacity." The age for marriage varies from state to state. In Alabama and South Carolina , for example, a female may marry as early as age twelve with the consent of a parent. The majority of states allow marriage at age 18 (or at age 16 with the consent of a parent).

"General capacity" simply means the ability to enter into a contract. The marriage contract must be entered into by one who is able to understand the meaning of the marriage relationship and who really agrees to become married. Thus knowledge and voluntariness are the two aspects of "general capacity."

Another requirement of marriage, although not often cited as such, since it is a "negative requirement," is the absence of a living spouse. One cannot enter into a marriage contract if one's current spouse is alive. The existence of a living spouse renders a purported marriage void as a matter of law in several states; the purported marriage is voidable in the rest of the states.

Also listed as a requirement for marriage is that the parties are unrelated by blood for marriage. There is a universal band on intermarriage by members of "nuclear families" (brothers and sisters, parents and children, etc.) and grandparents/grandchildren. Beyond that, the rules vary according to the state. Some jurisdictions bar marriages between first cousins. Others bar marriages between aunt and nephew or uncle and niece. Several states bar marriages between adopted children or between step-relatives.

Other requirements for a valid marriage include "intent to marry" as well as solemnization by an authorized official which may include (according to state law) a clergyman or civil official, as well as a certain number of witnesses.

Finally, it should be noted that "consummation" is not a prerequisite for a valid marriage. There is nothing in the civil law of states that requires sexual relations by the marriage partners in order to make the marriage valid.

What happens if a person fails to comply with the statutory requirements for matrimony? In a few states, the failure to obtain a license means that the marriage is void. In most jurisdictions, however, the marriage will still be held to be valid. For example, in Yun v. Yun, 908 S.W.2d 787 (Mo. Ct. App. 1995). The Yuns lived in Missouri but married in a church in Kansas in November 1986. No evidence of a license. In February 1990, Mr. Yun obtained a Kansas marriage license and filed it 26 June 1990 alleging marriage date of 3 June 1990. Mrs. Yun filed for divorce in 1993; Mr. Yun sought to avoid dissolution, property settlement and child support by alleging there was never a marriage. Court recognized the marriage.

In another case, Lambertini v. Lambertini, 655 So.2d 142 (Dist. Ct. Of App. FL 1995). Parties obtained a Mexican divorce for Mrs. Lambertini from her first husband and a Mexican marriage license -- 30 years later Mrs. Lambertini files for divorce and Mr. Lambertini asserts no marriage (and therefore no alimony or property division) because the license was not valid and therefore the marriage was void ab initio. The court recognized the marriage.

What if the license was obtained, but it was somehow defective, invalid or improperly obtained? The usual rule in these cases is that the marriage is still valid, but criminal sanctions may be applied for fraudulently obtaining a marriage license (although there are seldom any prosecutions for this offense). Likewise, failure to obtain a physical when one is required will not usually invalidate a marriage, and a marriage performed by an unauthorized solemnizing person would likewise probably not invalidate the marriage unless the parties knew of this disability.

What is the rule about recognizing the validity of a marriage? The general rule is that a marriage which is valid under law of the jurisdiction where it is "celebrated" (that is, where the marriage ceremony is performed) or where it occurs (in the case of a common law marriage) is valid everywhere. Also remember that neither party need be a domiciliary of the jurisdiction where the marriage is performed.

In general, a state will hold to be void those marriages which involve polygamy or marriages between persons who are too closely related. Voidable marriages are those where insufficient age, fraud, duress, sham ceremony, physical disability (disease or incurable impotence), or mental disability taint what appears to be an otherwise valid marriage. If a marriage is voidable, then it must be "avoided" (or challenged in court) by the one whose disability causes the problem at some point in time before the listing of the disability. Otherwise, avoidable marriage may "cure" into a valid marriage.

COMMON LAW MARRIAGE

There are really two types of common law marriages. The "traditional" common law marriage is one which is entered into without formalities. This type of marriage is usually defined as the intent to be married combined with living together and holding one's self out to the world as married. States which recognize the "traditional" form of common law marriage include (as of 1998) Alabama , Colorado , District of Columbia , Georgia , Idaho (only if before 1-1-96), Iowa , Kansas , Montana , Ohio (only if before 10-10-91), Oklahoma , Pennsylvania , Rhode Island , South Carolina and Texas .

A different kind of common law marriage is represented by the situation where a valid marriage is formed from an invalid marriage after the impediment is lifted. For example, a party might be underage at the time of the marriage. Continued cohabitation as husband and wife after the underage party attains majority, however, results in the marriage ripening into validity where this form of common law marriage is recognized. Note that the courts may be reluctant to find a valid marriage when the parties have entered into a relationship knowing it to be polygamous, even after the impediment to marriage has been terminated.

In those states which recognize "traditional", common law marriage, there are several requirements for the formation of such a marriage. The first is the express mutual consent and intent to be married. In addition, parties must hold themselves out to the world as being married or "must openly and professedly live as husband and wife" in most of these jurisdictions. While intent may certainly be proven by words, the incidence of "swearing contests" between parties who dispute whether or not there was an intent to be married have induced the courts to rely on parties actions and conduct at least as much as there were in trying to resolve this issue. Was there a joint bank account? Was the name on it "Mr. & Mrs."? How did the lease read -- "Mr. & Mrs."? By the evidence of the common law marriage involves examining documents such as these to divine the intent of the parties. There is no specific length of time recognized generally as a requirement for the formation of the common law marriage.

Even if the state does not recognize common law marriages itself, it will usually recognize one that was formed in a state which does recognize common law marriages. In addition, most states will recognize a common law marriage if the parties at some time during their period of living together resided in a state that allows the formation of common law marriages. Even if the parties begin living together in a state that does not allow the formation of common law marriages, they can inadvertently form a common law marriage, so long as the requisite "holding out," intent and cohabitation are present, if they move to a state that allows common law marriages. On the other hand, a temporary visit to a state that allows the formation of a common law marriage, so long as the parties are domiciled in another state which does not recognize them, usually will not result in a valid common law marriage.

MISCELLANEOUS RULES

There are some issues that sometimes arise when analyzing family law matters involving marriage:

A "putative marriage" is a legal fiction that is designed to escape the harshness of a void marriage where at least one of the parties didn't know of the impediment that prevented the formation of a valid marriage. For nearly all purposes, the innocent spouse ("putative spouse") will be entitled to the legal rights normally accruing to a valid spouse.

Marriage by proxy is a marriage ceremony in which an agent acts on behalf of one or both parties during the solemnization of the marriage, based upon a power of attorney. The most common incidents involving marriage by proxy are marriage ceremonies which occur during war time. Its recognition depends on the interpretation of state law -- does state law seem to require that both parties be present to apply for a license or to give there consent at the ceremony?

A wife is often allowed to retain her maiden name even after marriage. The trend in recent years is toward women having this choice. The only reason that a woman might not be able to use a name different from her husband is if the other name were used for purposes of fraud.

As opposed to divorce, which is the dissolution of a valid marriage, an annulment is a judicial declaration that the "marriage" never existed. In such instances, marital property and marital obligations (such as alimony) do not exist.

The grounds for an annulment must have existed at the time of the marriage ceremony (or "purported marriage"). Here are some of the grounds that are generally recognized for annulment:

When this occurs, a formal annulment is usually not necessary since this defect renders the marriage void in the first place.

Incestuous marriage

Once again, most jurisdictions consider that this renders the marriage void and thus an annulment should not be necessary.

Under age partner

An under age party to a marriage can have the marriage annulled, at least until he or she reaches majority, and this defect in some jurisdictions may render the marriage void in the first place.

This usually means that a party is physically incapable of normal sexual relations and it must be incurable.

This usually means venereal disease.

This must be sufficient to overcome a contractual notion of consent; ordinarily it must amount to violence or threats of violence that lead to "consent" to the marriage ceremony.

Mental incompacity

This means feeble-mindedness, insanity or mental weakness creating an incompasity to enter into a contract.

This generally must relate to some aspect of the marital relationship and it must "be material" or "substantial." In some states, a higher standard will be applied if the marriage has already been consummated by sexual relations. A common example of fraud as a ground for annulment is when a women conceals her pregnancy by another man. In addition, some states recognize that misrepresentation that the husband is the father of the unborn child is sufficient fraud for an annulment. A false assertion of pregnancy, however, is not a ground for annulment.

Limited-purpose marriage

A marriage for a limited purpose, such as obtaining a VISA, may result in a voidable, but not void, marriage.

Refusal to have children

The impliant purpose of marriage is for procreation, absent some agreement otherwise. If a party never intends to have children (and if this can be proven), then this usually constitutes fraud sufficient to justify an annulment. The "victim" spouse, however, may be held to have waived the issue by continued cohabitation with the one who refuses to have children.

Denial of conjugal rights

This is not a ground for annulment in itself, but it may constitute fraud in those cases where the party never intended to have sex after the marriage.

SILENT PARTNER IS PREPARED BY COL MARK E. SULLIVAN (USAR, RET.). FOR REVISIONS, COMMENTS OR CORRECTIONS, CONTACT HIM AT 2626 GLENWOOD AVENUE , STE. 195, RALEIGH , N.C. 27608 [919-832-8507]; E-MAIL – [email protected] .

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Federal Bureau of Prisons

General visiting information.

Make sure your visit will be a success by carefully following these four steps.

Discover or confirm the whereabouts of the inmate you would like to visit.

Before you can visit you must be placed on the inmate's approved visiting list.

Review all visiting rules, regulations, and procedures before your visit.

Find out when you can visit and get directions to the facility.

Locate the inmate

Sometimes an inmate may be moved to a different facility so that they can benefit from unique programs offered at that location. They might also be moved to receive treatment for a medical condition or for security concerns. Therefore, the first step in planning your visit should be to determine where the inmate is currently housed.

Please verify you are a human by entering the words you see in the textbox below.

To visit, you must be pre-approved.

You can only visit an inmate if they have placed you on their visiting list and you have been cleared by the BOP.

• An inmate is given a Visitor Information Form when he/she arrives at a new facility.
• Inmate completes their portion of the form and mails a copy to each potential visitor.
• Potential visitor completes all remaining form fields.
• Potential visitor sends the completed form back to the inmate's address (listed on the form).
• We may request more background information and possibly contact other law enforcement agencies or the NCIC
• The inmate is told when a person is not approved to visit and it is the inmate's responsibility to notify that person.

Who can an inmate add to their visiting list?

• Step-parent(s)
• Foster parent(s)
• Grandparents
• No more than 10 friends/associates
• Foreign officials
• Members of religious groups including clergy
• Members of civic groups
• Employers (former or prospective)
• Parole advisors

In certain circumstances such as when an inmate first enters prison or is transferred to a new prison, a visiting list might not exist yet. In this case, immediate family members who can be verified by the information contained in the inmate's Pre-Sentence Report, may be allowed to visit. However, if there is little or no information available about a person, visiting may be denied. You should always call the prison ahead of time to ensure your visit will be permitted.

Be Prepared

You should be familiar with all visiting rules, regulations, and procedures before your visit.

The following clothing items are generally not permitted but please consult the visiting policy for the specific facility as to what attire and items are permitted in the visiting room:

• revealing shorts
• halter tops
• bathing suits
• see-through garments of any type
• low-cut blouses or dresses
• backless tops
• hats or caps
• sleeveless garments
• skirts two inches or more above the knee
• dresses or skirts with a high-cut split in the back, front, or side
• clothing that looks like inmate clothing (khaki or green military-type clothing)

Plan your trip

• the prison location
• the prison type
• inmate visiting needs
• availability of visiting space

The inmate you plan to visit should tell you what the visiting schedule is for that prison; however, if you have any questions please contact that particular facility .

General Visiting Hours

Camp general visiting hours, fsl general visiting hours.

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Spring Break with a Purpose: Carolina Law’s Collaboration with Safe Alliance

Over spring break, UNC School of Law students had the opportunity to make a meaningful impact through a pro bono trip to Charlotte, North Carolina. Meghan Moran, director of pro bono initiatives at Carolina Law, led the trip along with Kaitlyn Parker, senior director of student engagement . The group of eight students partnered with Safe Alliance , the domestic violence agency in Mecklenburg County, to assist with their Victim Assistance Court Program.

Safe Alliance’s program provides both non-legal assistance and legal support to domestic violence survivors. While advocates offer extra support and help with safety planning, the program’s four attorneys focus on helping clients file paperwork for domestic violence protective orders and representing as many people as possible throughout the process.

The Carolina Law students played a crucial role in the initial stages of this process. After clients filled out information about their experiences in the initial paperwork, the students reviewed the complaints to ensure they were legally sufficient and well-organized before entering them into the county’s e-filing system. Moran explained, “Our law students applied their writing skills to make sure the complaints were well-structured and concise when presented to the judge, while still capturing the person’s experience in their own words.”

On the second day of the trip, students had the opportunity to witness the impact of their work firsthand. After helping a client tweak her complaint in the morning, they attended her emergency order hearing in the afternoon. Moran described this as a “full circle moment” for the students, allowing them to see the first stage of the process completed for that client.

This trip marked the first collaboration between Safe Alliance and Carolina Law, and Moran hopes to continue building on this partnership. The experience was particularly meaningful for Moran, who interned with Safe Alliance during her 2L summer and whose sister now works there as a therapist. “It just so happened that this was the project the students wanted to do, and Safe Alliance had availability. It was really cool for me personally, given my history with Safe Alliance.” Moran shared.

In addition to the pro bono work, the Office of Advancement organized an alumni event for the students during their stay in Charlotte, where the group enjoyed an evening of indoor mini-golf at Puttery Charlotte, great food, and conversation with alumni after their first day.

The spring break pro bono trip to Safe Alliance exemplified Carolina Law’s dedication to offering students meaningful opportunities to positively impact the lives of others while acquiring invaluable practical experience. By applying their skills and knowledge, the students not only refined their legal writing abilities but also saw firsthand the direct influence of their work on domestic violence survivors seeking legal support.