或る獄中結婚

Helen Pidd and Eric Allison “Gay couple serving life sentences to marry in prison” http://www.theguardian.com/society/2015/feb/20/gay-couple-serving-life-sentences-marry-prison-marriage-full-sutton


英国ヨークシャーのFull Sutton監獄*1に服役しているMikhail GallatinovとMarc Goodwinは来月結婚式を挙げる*2 。どちらも殺人罪終身刑の判決を受けている*3。これは英国で初めての同性の獄中結婚*4になる。


A source who visits Full Sutton regularly told the Guardian the relationship was well known inside the jail. “These two guys were on separate wings at Full Sutton and used to meet – and have sex – in the prison library. Then they managed to get on the same wing and had sex regularly,” she said.

Since submitting their application for marriage, the men have been split up and housed on different wings, the source claimed.

囚人の結婚権について;

A Ministry of Justice spokesman refused to comment on the marriage, saying: “We do not comment on individuals.

“Prisoners are entitled to apply to be married in prison under the Marriages Act 1983. This would take place at no cost to the taxpayer and there is no possibility they would share a cell.”

Under the terms of the Marriage Act 1983, all prisoners can exercise their right to marry under civil law in the place of their detention, and this right is reinforced by the Human Rights Act.

When passed, the 1983 law was intended to allow heterosexual prisoners to marry their partners from the outside world. The logic was that prisoners should largely enjoy the same human rights as their free counterparts, and that building and retaining family ties can help with the rehabilitation process.

But with the introduction of the Civil Partnerships Act 2004 and the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act coming into force last year, gay inmates are now legally allowed to marry each other inside jail, causing logistical issues for prison staff.

There is no rule prohibiting sex or relationships between prisoners, but prison officers do not allow inmates to have sexual relationships, according to the Commission on Sex in Prison*5, carried out by the Howard League for Penal Reform*6.

Frances Crook, the Howard League’s chief executive, supports marriage in prison, saying: “As a general principle, I think that prisoners should be allowed the same civil rights as people outside. They are in prison for public safety reasons, not to stop them asserting their civil rights.”

獄中の同性愛の実情;

It is impossible to accurately assess the prevalence of same-sex relationships in prison, according Roger Ingham, professor of health and community psychology at the Centre for Sexual Health Research at the University of Southampton. He said he had never heard of a gay marriage or civil partnership between prisoners inside a jail, but predicted this would not be the last. “Given the increasing acceptance of same sex relationships in society at large, one would imagine that there are more of these relationships going on in prison too. The authorities will have to respond to these changes,” he said.

The Guardian spoke to one man who was recently released after serving a long sentence at a high security jail. He said: “Paradoxically, given that legal and cultural progressions have almost rendered the ‘gay liberation front’ redundant in the UK, the situation in prisons for homosexual men is arguably more difficult now.

“Though engaging in consensual sexual activity is no longer illegal, when prisoners do so other institutional sanctions and disciplinary actions are deployed to obstruct, punish and deter. The easiest pretext for the authorities is always to pretend that ‘security’ or ‘good order and discipline’ are threatened when two men are momentarily beyond the panoptic disciplinary gaze of authority – actually a legal necessity since legalisation enjoins that ‘acts’ be ‘in private’, a rare commodity indeed in prison.”

ところで、Marc Goodwinが犯した殺人というのは「ホモフォビア」のヘイト・クライムだったのだ。

同性婚姻については、http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20060310/1141964279 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20070215/1171504248 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20070315/1173923865 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20091020/1256061018 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20091026/1256580819 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20100716/1279298083 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110224/1298560444 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110530/1306727085 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110630/1309450191 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20110716/1310809404 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20120418/1334689703 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20130301/1362102404 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20130523/1369282829 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20131020/1382242882 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20131230/1388369445 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20140913/1410537519 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20141101/1414807878 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20141105/1415113381 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20141221/1419171398 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20150213/1423753689 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20150214/1423882088 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20150220/1424402908 http://d.hatena.ne.jp/sumita-m/20150222/1424572403も。