The Role of Conjugal Visits, the private, extended periods spent between an incarcerated person and their spouse or family member, is essential in maintaining human dignity, preserving family ties, and supporting rehabilitation efforts for incarcerated people. Yet conjugal visits have become increasingly rare in the U.S. penal system. While around 17 states permitted them in the 1990s, policies shifted dramatically due to political and administrative pressures. Only four states; California, Connecticut, New York, and Washington, continue to allow extended family or conjugal visits.
Long-term incarceration strains or breaks marriages and relationships, and the extended private time provided during conjugal visits allows couples and children to maintain emotional intimacy, trust, and a sense of normal family structure. “Conjugal Visits in Prison – Psychological and Social Consequences” a study done by the Department of Justice’s Office of Justice Programs, suggests that strong family support systems and maintained marital relationships during a sentence can reduce post-release stress, lower recidivism rates, and ease the transition back into society.
Additionally, the opportunity for private visits acts as an incentive for incarcerated people to follow prison rules and maintain good behavior. Research and studies have indicated that facilities permitting private or extended family visits experience lower rates of inmate-on-inmate sexual assault and general behavioral infractions.
In an episode of “Inside Story,” a new video series from The Marshall Project that examines the realities of the U.S. criminal justice system. host Lawrence Bartley explores the shrinking world of conjugal visits. While popular culture often reduces these visits to sex, participants describe them as an essential lifeline: Private visits lasting anywhere from one hour to three days in trailers, cottages, or apartment-style units with kitchens and living rooms.
For incarcerated people, these programs offer rare moments of normalcy; cooking meals together, playing games with children and reconnecting with spouses without a guard standing over them.
Conjugal visits may not be a perfect system, but as Bartley reflects on his own time inside, and the program that allowed him to father two children and stay close with his wife, it raises an urgent question: Does cutting people off from physical touch make prison facilities safer, or does it work against rehabilitation?
