Conjugal visitation rights, privileges and standards of provision inside European prisons: A socio-legal study of extant literature

Conjugal visits in prisons remain controversial, with the bulk of literature concentrated in the United States. A socio-legal study mapped and described conjugal visitation rights and provision in prisons in the Council of Europe region, where over half a million are detained. A systematic search and socio-legal assessment of empirical literature, Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) country missions, and European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence was conducted. No date restriction was applied. Despite Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights not guaranteeing a right for people deprived of their liberty to receive conjugal visits, many member states allow unsupervised intimate visits of varying duration (several hours/days) in prisons. Jurisprudence (from only male applicants) describes differences of permissibility based on type of detainee (remand, convicted, life imprisonment). Allowance and provision of these visits is for member states to decide (‘the margin of appreciation doctrine’), with discretionary decisions by prison authorities based on maintenance of order. 35 CPT missions (1993–2023) document permissibility of conjugal visitation rights awarded to male prisoners and their spouses (to a lesser degree to intimate partners), with entitlement, frequency and duration generally dependent on security considerations. Only one CPT report refers to availability for female prisoners. Quality of provision of appropriate space for such visits varies. Empirical research is scant, with only one Spanish study referring to sexual relationships occurring during conjugal visits. The study illustrates the evolution of conjugal visitation rights across Europe, with the majority of CoE member states providing access to conjugal visits (generally to males) in prisons. Enhanced CPT scrutiny on the extent of accessibility and provision of conjugal visitation rights (including for women and homosexual partners) across Europe is warranted. Empirical and theoretical research on this aspect of European prison life and sexual well-being is equally important.