Prisoner Has Right To Conjugal Visits, Says Madras HC; Allows Leave To Lifer For Fertility Treatment!

The wife / petitioner is aged 32. The prisoner is undergoing imprisonment (life) and he is in custody for a period of 18 years. The fact remains that they are not blessed with a child, may be because the husband is not at all living with his wife. The Doctor has given assurance to the wife that with the help of infertility treatment, it is possible to beget a child.

Man is a social animal. He needs a family as well as a society to live in. The man needs both to share his emotions and feelings. Being human beings, prisoners also would like to share their problems with their life partner as well as with the society. Just because, they are termed as prisoners, their right to dignity cannot be deprived...

The psychologists and psychiatrists believe that the frustration, tension, the ill feelings and the heart burnings can be reduced and a human being can be better constructed if they are allowed conjugal relationship even rarely. Therefore, while considering the merits and demerits of allowing conjugal visits or permitting leave for the purpose of artificial insemination, the advantages are more than the disadvantages.

Conjugal visit leads to strong family bonds and keep the family functional rather than the family becoming dysfuctional due to prolonged isolation and lack of sexual contact...

This evil is happening because of deprivation of conjugal relationship for a prisoner. Therefore, it is a right time that the Government should constitute a committee to consider the possibility of providing conjugal visit and analyze the merits and demerits of permitting conjugal visits and to provide the facility for conjugal visits to eligible prisoners subject to the precautions / safety measures to be taken...

Conjugal visits of the spouse of the prisoners is also the right of the prisoner. This right is recognized at least in few countries of the world. When the prisons are overcrowded providing place for conjugal visits may be a problem, but the Government has to find out a solution. Today, conjugal visits are called extended family visits (or, alternately, family reunion visits). The official reason for these extended family visits is three-fold: to maintain the relationship between the prisoner and the members of his family, to reduce recidivism, and to motivate or to provide an incentive for the good behaviour.