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Gay marriage debate in California goes to prison

By Douglas A. Berman

I often tell my students that important public policy issues always have a criminal justice angle.  This AP article, headlined "Calif. Ponders Gay Marriage For Inmates: State's Corrections Department Drafting Guidelines To Conform To New Marriage Laws," proves that even debates over gay marriage are heading to prison:Now that same-sex couples can get married in California, state prison officials are trying to figure out what that means for gay inmates. No prisoners so far have sought to arrange weddings with same-sex partners since the state Supreme Court granted same-sex couples the right to wed as of mid-June, according to Michele Kane, spokeswoman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Nonetheless, department lawyers are drafting guidelines to bring the state's 33 adult prisons into compliance with the court's ruling that same-sex couples must be treated the same as opposite-sex couples under the California Constitution, Kane said...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on September 01, 2008 (boomark / email).