For an hour, they get to act like a married couple. Since they began here in the early 1900s, when the penitentiary was just called Parchman Farm, conjugal visits have been an unlikely barometer of racial mores and changing times both in Mississippi and in states like California and New York, where married same-sex couples can participate. Conjugal visit programs in the U.S. have been on the decline in recent decades: In 1993, 17 states had conjugal programs; now, only a half-dozen offer them. Extended family visits, in general, come in three flavors: six hours, 12 hours and 24 hours, an option only available to inmates with the best records and who are within one year of release. Visitors bring their own food and sometimes have a barbecue. In New York, about 8,000 family visits were arranged last year, a figure that corrections officials say has declined. Though what qualifies prisoners for the visits varies from state to state, all must have records of good behavior and be legally married. Only six states currently allow conjugal visits, otherwise known as extended family visits, and they don’t exist in the federal prison system. Mississippi ended its more extensive family visitations last year but left in place the hourlong visits, which since their inception a century ago have been designed more as a way to control inmates than nurture relationships. Inmates, most of whom were black, were used as free farm labor in an arrangement not that far removed from slavery. The warden at the time believed sex could be used to compel black men to work harder in the fields, according to a history on the practice produced in the 1970s by Tyler Fletcher, who founded the department of criminal justice at the University of Southern Mississippi in 1973. On Sunday afternoons, the prisons brought in prostitutes who charged 50 cents for their services. A Mississippi prisoners’ advocacy group and a Memphis-based civil rights organization have planned a rally for Friday in Jackson, the state capital, to protest the policy change. NOW READ THIS 
 
 Mississippi’s Department of Corrections Commissioner Christopher Epps says the program has become too costly, and the state also has to worry about babies being conceived while a parent is behind bars. Mississippi’s Department of Corrections Commissioner Epps says it was because of the “costs associated with the staff’s time, having to escort inmates to and from the location, supervising personal hygiene and the upkeep of the building.” But only 155 inmates in Mississippi were allowed such visits in the fiscal year 2012-13. Regular visits are crowded with other prisoners and their families. Obviously they did something wrong. ”Sex was used as the proverbial dangling carrot for increasing inmate productivity,” Rodgers says.
– Only six states allow prisoners conjugal visits—and the state where the practice began roughly a century ago, Mississippi, is poised to halt (but not legally ban) those visits Feb. 1. The prison commissioner in the state, where 155 of some 22,000 inmates had such visits last year, blames budget issues as well as "the number of babies being born possibly as a result." The New York Times speaks to the spouses who treasure the time, even if it's brief and less than comfortable. "It's not romantic, but it doesn't matter," says the wife of an Arkansas inmate; she drives eight hours to see her husband, who is due for release in 2022. "Obviously they did something wrong. But they are human, too. So are we." Another spouse notes that ending the practice denies her the ability to have children in the future. "I feel like they are taking away my choice," she says. Vocativ and the Times offer the basics on how such visits work: They're still also allowed in California, Connecticut, New Mexico, New York, and Washington; that's down from 17 states in 1993. (The Times piece implies Connecticut's program is not currently active.) The practice began in the early 1900s at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, whose warden thought they would prod black inmates to toil harder in the fields; prostitutes were often brought in. Today, inmates must be married and have a clean behavior record (generally no fighting, swearing, etc., in the last six months) to qualify; they usually have to apply for the visits, which occur only in medium- to lower-security prisons; federal prisons allow no such visits. "Extended family visits" can last up to 24 hours for well-behaved prisoners nearing release. Mississippi has recently allowed only one-hour visits, the Times notes. The visits occur in private apartments inside prison walls, which are usually outfitted with sheets, soap, towels, and condoms. The prison does not provide food. California and New York allow same-sex couples to participate in the practice within marriages or civil unions. The visits are largely free; Washington state participants pay $10. Conjugal visits are permitted in some other countries—not always successfully.