Sex in jail: Conjugal rights of prisoners

SEX IN JAILS

If a person commits any crime, it does not mean that by committing a crime, he/she ceases to be a human being and that he/she can be deprived of those aspects of life which constitutes human dignity.

Man is a social animal. He needs a family and society to live his life. Every human being is in need of a life partner from whom he/she can share their emotions and feelings. The physical contact between the two individuals cannot be denied. One cannot be happy merely by drinking, eating, putting on clothes, and having a house in which to stay. A desire is not merely the desire for clothing and food, though it is primary in some way. There are vital wishes or other insistent desires to be fulfilled, which are other pressures exerted by the biological personality, which, too, cannot be ignored, as they are part of oneself. Feeling in oneself will be known to people who have lived a totally isolated life, unconnected with human society for a long period. Being human-being prisoners also have the same feelings as each and every individual in the society have.

Basically there are four theories of punishment constituting preventive, deterrent, reformative and retributive theory. The concept of reformative theory is best as it says all prisons should be transformed into residences where physical moral and intellectual training should be given in order to improve the character of criminals. The sexual frustration that dominates almost every interaction in a prison is responsible for a great many of the ills that plague prison life and drive prison culture. Now the question arises should prisoners be provided in India with conjugal rights. A right that would enable the prisoner to have sexual relationship with their spouse. But before making any such law let us first critically analyze the merits and demerits of providing such right.

MERITS

• The provision of conjugal rights will help the prisoners to be free from isolation and frustration. Moreover it will help the individual to have a child as successor so that when in future he/she will be free from prison can also lead a good life.

• There are innumerable cases of HIV/AIDS in jails because of having sexual intercourse in-between the same gender so the death of prisoners due to HIV/AIDS can be reduced. A nationwide health survey in jails has found 80 of Chhattisgarh’s prisoners HIV-positive, out of 13,000-odd tested. The situation is even worse in Tihar jail in which out of the 1,709 prisoners tested, 140 tested positive.

• Because many of us (if not most) prefer to punish the criminal, rather than rehabilitate him/her, we are opposed to some of these measures, thinking that the prisoner should not be entitled to these privileges, having violated us, without realizing that a reformed prisoner would make a better villager, upon their release.

• It is believed that conjugal visits leads to strong family bonds and keeps families functional rather than having the family deal with the dysfunctional side of the relationship due to the lack of sexual contact.

• Every issue raised constitutes pros and cons and same is applicable to providing conjugal rights so the various cons of conjugal rights cannot be denied.

DEMERITS

• For an inmate that does not have the right to such visits he may have a negative attitude toward the prison and those that are allowed the visits.

• Prisoners are not monitored during the visit which is a security problem which allows both inmates and guards to engage in criminal activities.

• One of the biggest disadvantages is that so many wives become pregnant during the visit. “Welfare babies” are than born which puts another economic strain on the government to not only pay for their inmate’s baby but also pay to house the inmate.

• Since the court had legalized LIVE IN RELATIONSHIP so what will be the status of the prisoners who are not married but are in live in relationship. The question arises to will they be allowed to cohabit with their partner.

CONCLUSION

Raising problems is good if we come up with an adequate solution. After critically analyzing the problem we come to certain reasonable, logical and rational solution to these problems which ultimately harms us and our society.

Advocate Anand Grover, appointed amicus curiae (friend of the court) in the case, said, “Whether we like it or not, there is sex in jails. It is an issue which everyone wants to sweep under the carpet”. Justice Majumdar observed, “There may be physical needs. See whether a separate place can be given to a prisoner and his wife for a day or two. The government is spending crores of rupees to curb the AIDS menace in jails. Instead why don’t you take preventive steps”. Comments from the eminent personalities clearly states that the issue of allowing sex in prison should be taken in consideration immediately. However there is always a place for positive feedback and the concept apply here also.

Only prisoners with good conduct will be allowed to have conjugal rights.

The concept of open jail should be promoted as it would be the best solution where the prisoners are provided vocational training and education “. The open jail at Buxar, in Bihar where at present 74 inmates are staying in such a jail with their families and they have been provided with fully furnished one-room set each that features a separate kitchen and toilet. There has been no case of any inmate breaking free from the jail in the past five months of its functioning. The idea is to reintegrate the prisoners into the society will be fulfilled through the concept of open jail.

“It is said that no one truly knows a nation until one has been inside its jails. A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”

― Nelson Mandela