http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/thi...p?story=282343
>
> Jailbirds make good lovebirds, prison wedding study
> shows
> By Sophie GoodchildHome Affairs Correspondent
> 07 April 2002
> Marriages in which the husband or wife is a jailed
> felon are less likely to
> end in divorce than conventional unions, according
> to the first-ever study
> of prison relationships. Only one in nine weddings
> between criminals in
> jail and their partners ends in divorce. This is
> almost three times more
> successful than the national rate.
> This somewhat surprising finding is based on the
> experiences of 24 women
> and four men, including a solicitor, a bank clerk,
> nurse and primary school
> teacher.
> All were involved in relationships with prisoners.
> They included the
> partners of Sara Thornton, jailed for killing her
> abusive husband, and
> Charles Bronson, Britain's most notorious prisoner.
> Nearly two-thirds said
> they felt their relationships had been strengthened
> by the adversities they
> had to face.
> Published next month, the three-year study was
> carried out by Angela
> Devlin, a respected author and expert on Britain's
> penal system whose
> father-in-law, Lord Devlin, was involved in the
> release of the Guildford
> Four. Her research attributes the success of these
> relationships to long
> courtships. On average, prisoners were together with
> their partners three
> years before they committed to marriage.
> Relationships developed gradually in a formal way
> comparable to Victorian
> courtships with prison guards acting as
> "chaperones". One-third of those
> involved in the study said their prison partner
> wrote such good letters
> that they had fallen in love through their
> correspondence.
> The mundane experiences of everyday life also helped
> strengthen
> relationships. One prisoner jailed as a teenager
> begged his future wife to
> send him her electricity bills as he had never seen
> one.
> However, the research does warn of the dangers of
> committing to a
> relationship with a prisoner. There is no obligation
> for prison authorities
> to disclose the nature of a prisoner's crime and
> two-thirds of prisoners'
> partners said they had never been given any details.
> Prison Service statistics show that about 200
> serving prisoners get married
> every year. These include the murderer Jimmy Boyle,
> now an acclaimed
> sculptor, who has been married to artist Caroline
> McNairn for 10 years. The
> Venezuelan terrorist, Carlos the Jackal is planning
> to marry his French
> attorney, Isabelle Coutant-Peyre.
> But the majority of these unions are not
> high-profile "celebrity" prisoner
> weddings. Stuart Watford met his wife Sandra through
> the penpals page of an
> Army magazine while serving an eight-year sentence
> for kidnap and torture.
> The couple were married two years ago at HMP
> Littlehey, and Mr Watford was
> released shortly afterwards.
> With two failed marriages behind her, Mrs Watford
> said her long courtship
> with Stuart was crucial to the success of their
> relationship. "Stuart was
> very honest about what he did and was remorseful
> from the start," said Mrs
> Watford, a cleaner. "I'd write and ask him
> questions, and before he'd even
> received my letter he'd be writing me the answers
> anyway."
> In the past, Mrs Watford admits she thought women
> who married prisoners
> were "mad". "Some of my friends dropped me, but I
> was determined to keep an
> open mind," she said.
> "I did everything right in marrying my two previous
> husbands, and they
> turned out to be abusers. So I thought what do I
> have to lose this time?"
> Relate, the relationship and marriage counselling
> service, said prisoners
> had the opportunity to devote time to building a
> relationship, but may find
> the intimacy of living with their partner difficult.
> "Prisoners' relationships can work reasonably well
> because they don't have
> to worry about paying the bills," said Denise
> Knowles, a Relate counsellor.
> "The outside partner also knows where the prisoner
> is – it's very difficult
> to be let down."
>
Jailbirds make good lovebirds, prison wedding study shows
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