NCJ Number
188453
Journal
American Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 25 Issue: 1 Dated: Fall 2000 Pages: 137-145
Date Published
2000
Length
9 pages
Annotation
This study examined inmate attitudes toward conjugal visitation programs and compared the attitudes of Mississippi inmates who took part in a conjugal visitation program with inmates who did not take part in such a program.
Abstract
The participants were 126 male and 130 female inmates confined in the minimum and medium security units at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility located in Pearl and in the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman in 1994. The questionnaire gathered information about their attitudes toward conjugal visits, the use of birth control during conjugal visits, staff monitoring of conjugal visits, and the effects of these visits on tension and same-sex activity. The instrument also gathered information about demographics, participation in the conjugal visitation program security level, remaining sentence time, and total sentence length. Logistic regression analyses revealed no differences between participant and nonparticipant attitudes toward the conjugal visitation program. However, differences existed among gender and racial lines and among several of the attitudinal issues regarding the program. White inmates were less likely than minorities to maintain that inmates married during incarceration should receive conjugal visits, but were more likely to argue that conjugal visits reduced tension. Females tended to believe that inmates should use birth control devices during conjugal visits, but were less inclined to agree that conjugal visits reduced same-sex activities in prison. The analysis concluded that States that provide conjugal visitations should continue to provide this privilege, since no differences seem to exist between the attitudes of participants and nonparticipants on several central issues related to the program. Tables, case citation, and 14 references (Author abstract modified)