Does Participation in Conjugal Visitations Reduce Prison Violence in Mississippi?

Few studies have examined the relationship between participation in conjugal visitation programs and threats of or actual violent behavior in correctional facilities. In the present study, 256 men and women incarcerated in two Mississippi prisons completed an anonymous questionnaire concerning institutional violence and participation in the conjugal visitation program. Using multiple regression analyses, this study was intended to determine whether conjugal visits reduce threats of and actual incidents of violent behavior in prison. Although a relationship was not uncovered between participation in conjugal visitation programs and the threat of or actual commission of violence, the study did reveal that inmates who had committed index crimes were more likely to commit violence against another inmate than inmates who had committed non-index crimes