Albert Lynn (left), superintendent at the Tamarind Farm Adult Correctional Centre in St. Catherine, and Dr. Donald Rhodd (right), Minister of State in the Ministry of National Security, talk with inmates at the facility in July. - Norman Grindley/Deputy Chief Photographer

A Barbadian Government minister has suggested a different approach to managing sexual relations between prison inmates and their legal partners, according to a British Broadcasting Corporation Caribbean report.

Barbados' Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office, the Rev. Joseph Atherley, said allowing visits from wives and girlfriends was preferable to the option of handing out free condoms in jail.

The distribution of condoms has been proposed as a means of curbing the spread of AIDS among prisoners in the Caribbean. However, some officials feel condoms in jail would be overtly sanctioning homosexuality which is an illegal act in many Caribbean countries.

Progressive penal reform

Minister Joseph Atherley, an ordained minister who remains a church pastor, said allowing conjugal visits is a better solution than condom distribution in prison.

For Rev. Atherley, such a visit by the legal partner of a prisoner is more than just sex, but about maintaining family relationships.

He told the BBC, "Conjugal visits constitute a significant plank of progressive penal policy."

The minister feels allowing prisoners to have access to conjugal relations would "address social issues with reference to the family unit and helping to keep that intact."

Rev. Atherley also said the conjugal rights wouldn't be a free-for-all.

The State Minister has found a powerful ally in Sir George Alleyne, a United Nations special envoy on AIDS and former head of the Pan American Health Organisation, the hemispheric health agency. He is also chancellor of the University of the West Indies.

Sir George said that some research had shown that many of the prisoners themselves did not wish condoms to be distributed freely, fearing stigmatisation on their release.

Some commentators have raised eyebrows about giving too many freedoms to prisoners.

Though some commentators argue that condoms in prison is a public health issue, Anglophone Caribbean populations, which are predominantly Christian, widely condemn the proposal on the basis that it contradicts moral and religious laws.

Have Your Say!

Jamaicans are divided on the matter of issuing condoms to prisoners. Is the concept of conjugal visits a viable option for Jamaica? Have your say by emailing editor@gleanerjm.com.