Prisoners can see their husbands but must use contraception

A draft circular from the Ministry of Public Security allows female prisoners to meet their husbands in private rooms for 24 hours, but they must use contraception and pledge not to get pregnant.

Recently, the Ministry of Public Security has announced a draft circular regulating prisoners’ meeting with relatives, receiving and sending letters, receiving money and objects, and making phone calls with relatives… to solicit public and government opinions. If approved, this draft circular will replace Circular 46/2011 of the Ministry of Public Security.

Notably, in the section on visiting procedures, the draft clearly states the case where prisoners are allowed to meet their spouses in private rooms.

Meet 24 hours with no pregnancy guarantee

According to the draft, prisoners who strictly comply with prison regulations and rules or who have made meritorious contributions will be allowed to visit their spouses in a private room for no more than 24 hours. To be eligible for a visit, a relative who is a spouse must have a marriage certificate or a certificate from the People's Committee or the commune-level police confirming the actual marital status of the prisoner and must write a commitment to strictly comply with the visiting house regulations.

Female prisoners must sign a commitment not to get pregnant when meeting their husbands in a private room. Illustrative photo

Female prisoners who are allowed to meet their husbands in private rooms must use contraception and have a written commitment not to get pregnant to ensure the time of serving their prison sentence. This is a new point of the draft circular compared to Circular 46/2011 of the Ministry of Public Security.

The regulation allowing prisoners to meet their spouses in private rooms is considered by many to be very humane and humane, and it encourages prisoners to comply well and make merit. However, the problem is how to manage and control this private meeting time. In the case that a female prisoner has made a commitment not to get pregnant but later becomes pregnant, how should it be handled?

Motivate prisoners to reform well

Discussing this issue, Major General Tran The Quan, Deputy Director of the Department of Legislation and Judicial Administrative Reform (Ministry of Public Security) said that this provision of the draft circular is appropriate and humane. Allowing prisoners to meet their spouses in private rooms has been applied for a long time, from the Ordinance on Execution of Prison Sentences to the Law on Execution of Criminal Sentences. This is also the difference between Vietnam and other countries in the world.

“The private meeting room is also called the happy room or happy house. I went abroad and discussed with them about allowing prisoners to meet their wives or husbands in private rooms. They were quite surprised about this and thought that this was a progressive point in Vietnam,” said Major General Quan.

Major General Quan assessed that allowing prisoners' spouses to meet each other was very good. Firstly, it could improve the prisoners' psychology; secondly, it would create conditions for families to participate and coordinate with detention facilities to educate and reform prisoners; thirdly, it would create motivation for prisoners to comply and reform better.

What to do if a female prisoner is pregnant?

Regarding concerns about pregnancy during private meetings, Major General Quan said that for female prisoners, when meeting their husbands in private rooms, they must take contraceptive measures and sign a commitment not to get pregnant before being allowed to meet.

This is because in the past, male prisoners accounted for a large proportion, but now the number of female criminals is increasing, so the Ministry of Public Security has made plans and regulations to accommodate this change.

"If a male prisoner meets his wife and gets pregnant, it won't be too much trouble, but on the contrary, if a female prisoner meets her husband and gets pregnant, it will cause many complications during the sentence execution process," said Major General Quan.

According to General Quan, the signing of the commitment is mainly based on the inmate's own voluntariness. If the commitment is still pregnant, of course the inmate has violated the rules and will be dealt with. However, there are currently no specific regulations for this case. The draft circular is in the process of soliciting opinions for further calculation, the Ministry of Public Security is still building and providing further guidance to find the most appropriate solution.

Providing more information on this issue, Major General Quan said that if a female prisoner becomes pregnant and is forced to give birth, there will be two ways to handle it: Either send the child home to be cared for by a family member, or in prisons with separate childcare areas, the child will be placed near the mother for care. In the regulations, those raising young children will also enjoy preferential treatment, such as larger sleeping areas, better nutrition, etc.

According to Ho Chi Minh City Law