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Miss. to end inmate conjugal visits in 2014

The first state to allow conjugal visits to its prison population more than 100 years ago will bring the program to a close as of Feb. 1, 2014

By Monica Land
The Grio

PARCHMAN, Miss. — The first state to allow conjugal visits to its prison population more than 100 years ago will bring the program to a close as of Feb. 1, 2014. The head of Mississippi’s prison system said he is terminating the program due to the financial burden of the arrangement and the number of infants being born as a result of it.

Commissioner Christopher Epps, of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC), announced his decision this week on the heels of Republican statesman Richard Bennett’s plans to reintroduce his bill to end conjugal visits during the 2014 legislative session.

Epps said, however, that his decision to end the program had nothing to do with Bennett’s bill – which initially failed in 2012 – and died in committee without a vote.

Epps said when the extended family visitation program – which allowed three-day visits on the facility grounds in separate housing – ended in September 2013, he notified MDOC staffers that he also planned to dissolve the conjugal visit program.

“There are costs associated with the staff’s time, having to escort inmates to and from the visitation facility, supervising personal hygiene and keeping up the infrastructure of the facility,” Epps said. “Then, even though we provide contraception, we have no idea how many women are getting pregnant only for the child to be raised by one parent.”

Full story: Mississippi to end inmate conjugal visits in 2014

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