Often, prisoners have been divided into camps and the groups have fought each other on the issue of who shall have the new entrant.” The price offered is in terms of bidis, soap or charas. In this context, the People’s Union of Civil Liberties has observed: “When a young boy enters, the prisoners have been known to have bid a price for the boy.

About 11 per cent admitted to have had sex with other men. Masturbation is also common and depends on the situations and opportunities as the prisons are generally very crowded.Ī study reported in the Journal of Medical Research article in 2010 quoted figures from the Arthur Road jail in Mumbai in which 72 per cent of the inmates interviewed said sex between men was quite common. This mode of sexual gratification (mainly the discharge of seminal energy) is considered by an even greater majority of prisoners (79 per cent) as ‘normal’ in the prison milieu. This study suggested that a large number of prisoners (53 per cent) admitted that they frequently have sex dreams. However, the most rampant are: (i) Nocturnal sex dreams (ii) Self-masturbation and (iii) Homosexuality. Some common methods are to indulge in sexual talks and fantasies and sexually-loaded jokes are quite prevalent. Perhaps, the only study on this subject in India was conducted by a noted criminologist, Prof SP Srivastava, who observed that the prisoners, driven by sexual urges, try to cope with them in a myriad of ways. According to Donald Clemmer, on account of the atypical prison culture which justifies negative modes of adaptations and behaviour, a prison may be termed as an ‘abnormal community’. Rose Giallombardo’s research finds that there is a natural tolerance of sexual perversions in the prison community.

They remain scarcely studied as institutions and not much is known about the life and challenges faced by the inmates inside. Even the current system of mulaqat is inadequate, given that the family members often meet the prisoners in a congested and crowded atmosphere. Consequently, they enforce a regulatory control aimed at suppressing the innate urges of prisoners.

Primarily, however, the idea of conjugal visits emerged as a solution to problematic sex lives of prisoners.īy and large, the prison administrations are ill prepared and ill equipped to manage this issue effectively. Several cases have now come up before the courts where sexual engagement and procreation have been raised as a ground for suspension of sentence or parole. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has ruled that procreation or alternatively artificial insemination continues to be a right of the incarcerated person. Therefore, it has been construed as a possible and partial solution to save the prisoners from sexual frustration and encourage indulgence in procreation activities. In a conjugal visit, an inmate is allowed to spend time with the legal spouse. Confinement in prison deprives prisoners of an active sexual life, culminating into a search for alternative ways.

Prisons are single-sex institutions, resulting in the norm of suppressed sexual desires. Professor, National Law University, New DelhiĬonjugal visits are again in the news with a petition in a Delhi court pushing this debate to yet another level.

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