Tania Thomas, 47, arrived at Mule Creek State Prison on June 28, 2024, for a four-day, three-night conjugal visit with her partner, Anthony Curry. Curry is serving a life sentence for attempted murder and carjacking.
By 6:30 a.m., Curry called the correctional staff via an intercom in the two-bedroom one bathroom visiting unit, notifying them that Thomas was having a medical emergency.
In November 2024, Stephanie Dowells arrived at Mule Creek State Prison for a conjugal visit with her husband, David Brinson, who was serving life without the possibility of parole for killing four men in 1993.
Still, Dowells' death would not become public until March 2025, when it was confirmed that she was strangled and the cause of death was considered homicide.
Family visits, also known as conjugal visits, are private, extended visits typically held in apartment-style units on prison grounds. These visits allow inmates to spend time with loved ones, including spouses and children, away from the general prison population and without constant supervision.
Inmates must apply for the visit and they are granted for good behavior as well as other "strict eligibility requirements."
California is one of only four states – along with Connecticut, New York, and Washington — that still allow such visits.
Historical and legal background of conjugal visits
Old Camp Nine at the Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchman Farm. Mississippi Department of CorrectionsThe first informal version of the program was at Mississippi State Penitentiary, Parchman Farm. Prostitutes would be brought in to have sex with black inmates as a "means of control" according to Blake Feldman with the Southern Center for Human Rights.
The program, in this unofficial form, received bad press nationally, according to Feldman, and Parchman Farm ultimately rebranded the incentive as progressive.
In its original form, the program was open to inmates who were nearing release, to meet with family members to begin the process of reacclimating to the world outside of incarceration.
Feldman said Mississippi and California were considered leaders in this realm.
Mississippi, the first state to offer family visitation, was one of the last to end its program in 2014. At the time, the Mississippi Department of Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps said he was ending the privilege due to "budgetary reasons" and the number of babies being born as a result of conjugal visits.
Out of 22,000 inmates in Mississippi at the time, Epps said that only 155 inmates were eligible for the visits.
"California started maybe late sixties in like a pilot program, and then, like early seventies, it was expanded because it was a huge success. It was very limited to people who are months from release. It started in California as this process for transitioning. It was expanded because of all these other benefits," Feldman said.
Proponents of family visits, including CDCR, say the visits are designed to support positive family connections and successful rehabilitation.
"It really is determined in the states where they exist, that the benefits far outweigh the risks, although with the story we're now discussing clearly there were risks, and there are people who are in prison because they are violent, they have committed crimes, they have been problematic in terms of our society," said Jorga Leap, ajunct professor of social welfare at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs.
"We sadly have people who are incarcerated and we have the people that are there trying to maintain, trying to control, trying to keep order, who need not to be abusive, who need not to be punitive, but to be as humane as possible as well. So it serves both sides," Leap said.
"So, let's talk about a peaceful prison environment, a settled prison environment, a prison environment where there is not sexual violence, brutality, any of the things that are so dangerous. And, by the way, if you're not caring about the prisoner, care about everybody surrounding them, and the fact that there can be harm, there can be injuries, there can be wrongful death. And when we're talking about the State of California who gets sued for all that? Who's on the line? It becomes a state liability issue as well."
"It does have risks. And we're witnessing one of these risks, and they have to be weighed. The people who are allowed conjugal visits have to be evaluated carefully. There is a movement away from evaluating people who are violent and saying, Yeah, okay, let's have a conjugal visit. But, on the other hand, if someone is violent and it's going to help them calm down. It's really a difficult decision to make," Leap said.
In May, the visits were paused again at Mule Creek and were reopened last week, according to a CDCR spokesperson.
Program status and future considerations
Despite the policy's reinstatement, the families of the victims are urging CDCR to pause the program again, this time in direct response to the deaths of their loved ones.
Rojo told CBS Sacramento she was concerned about the mental status of her cousin's partner, Curry, at the time of their visit and believes CDCR should be held responsible for allowing the visit to continue as planned.
"I just find it so crazy that we just went about our day. There are two women that are strangled to death within the same year, at the same prison, with no action behind it," Tangipa said.
"Whether it's the unsupervised portion of it and where we can be effective and actually change the law, to make sure there isn't another woman, or another individual, or any family that's potentially going to be in the same situations," Tangipa told CBS Sacramento.
"It kind of feels like date night in prison. That a lot of the taxpayers actually pay for," said Tangipa, "I found out that guards actually go to Target, pick up date night, grab condoms, food snacks [for the inmates]."
The CDCR has not confirmed the details of these trips with CBS Sacramento or the costs of the visits to the state or taxpayers.
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