California may not allow gays to marry, but lawmakers will now allow gay prison inmates conjugal visits with their lovers. The move comes after the ACLU joined forces with a number of prisoners, including 40-year old ex-convict Vernon Foeller.
Foeller had been serving a 20-month sentence and wanted to see his lover. His lover, however, felt uncomfortable under the guard’s glares, so he called the ACLU to get his back. The social defenders organized a hearing for last Wednesday, at which Foeller spoke:
I heard from a lot of people inside the prison who thought it was a step forward. People who are doing life terms, or even seven-to-life, can’t get family visits, and they saw what I was doing as a step to roll that back.
The new rules will allow an estimated 170,000 inmates the opportunity to get their legal swerve on – ain’t justice grand?
California prisons to allow gay family visits [The Advocate]
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ERIC
That’s Hot!!
Mike
That’s impressive. Currently, the only place to allow conjugal visits from same sex partners in Brazil.
It also is a departure from the original reason behind conjugal visits, which are not meant for the prisoner, but for the prisoner’s spouse. Without conjugal visits, there is an undue burden on the inmate’s spouse: he or she would have to either live a life of celibacy, or cheat commit adultery, thus leading to divorce.