Thread: California jails to allow gay weddings -

just not between 2 inmates.

California jails to allow gay weddings - just not between 2 inmates


By NANCY DILLON
DAILY NEWS WEST COAST BUREAU CHIEF
Friday, August 29th 2008, 4:10 PM


LOS ANGELES - Gay inmates will soon have the right to marry under new guidelines expected to take effect in California next month.
But inmates in the state's 33 adult prisons won't be allowed to hitch their ball and chain to fellow prisoners, officials say. The same-sex spouse must be someone on the outside.
"Safety and security are top priorities," said Corrections spokeswoman Michele Kane, who cited the potential for harassment should inmates be allowed to marry each other.
"If prisoners were found out to have money or other assets, they might find themselves coerced into marriages with more powerful inmates who then might try to lay claim to half their net worth," she said.
Three female inmates have requested same-sex marriages since the California Supreme Court legalized gay marriage in June, Kane said. No male inmates have applied, she said.
California became the first state in June 2007 to grant overnight conjugal visits to gay prisoners with registered domestic partners.

Marriage should not be allowed in jail... gay or straight