Your Rights: The Rights of Prisoners: Marriage and family: Marriage and family

High-risk prisoners who wish to get married must make arrangements with the prison authorities for a service to take place within the prison. Low-risk prisoners may be given escorted leave or temporary release to marry outside prison.

Prisoners can apply to start a family with their partner by use of artificial insemination. Prison Department policy is that this should only be allowed where there are exceptionally strong reasons, and where the applicant couple are legally married. Article 12 of the Convention guarantees the right to marry and found a family. A refusal by the Prison Department to allow a prisoner to marry or to start a family by artificial insemination could be challenged under this article. In one case involving a lifer, the courts upheld a decision made by the prison authorities not to allow artificial insemination to take place but this decision is currently being considered by the ECtHR.

Women Prisoners with Children

There are a limited number of mother and baby units within the prison system. You can keep a baby up to the age of nine months in Holloway, 18 months at Styal - both closed prisons - and 18 months at Askham Grange. If the baby has reached these age limits before the custodial part of the sentence has been completed, the prisoner may be forced to give up looking after her baby, either then or at an earlier stage. However, the Court of Appeal has held that this policy must not be applied rigidly and that each case must be looked at on its own merits. This means that there may be circumstances where it is appropriate for a child to remain with his/her mother beyond 18 months.