THE LOVE ROOMS IN ROMANIAN JAILS!

Prisoners spend two hours every three months with a loved one

The dodgy decor and mismatched furniture would lead to a few grumbles on TripAdvisor - but these are not questionable hotels and B&Bs. Photographer Cosmin Bumbut has spent the past four years visiting 35 penitentiaries across Romania, including juvenile detention centres and prison hospitals, photographing the rooms built for conjugal visits.

He started taking pictures of people before and after the visits but wanted to focus on the lack of intimacy in the rooms, rather than the prisoners themselves and came up with The Intimate Room collection.

Once Romania joined the European Union, in 2007, the prison system went through major revamp and the biggest reform was to introduce the right to private visits.

A prisoner who is married or in a

A prisoner who is married or in a relationship has the right to receive a two-hour private visit, every three months, which takes place in a separate room inside the prison compound

relationship has the right to receive a twohour private visit, every three months, which takes place in a separate room inside the prison compound.

If someone gets married whilst in jail, they have the right to use the room for 48-hours as a honeymoon of sorts, then two hours every month for a year.

Speaking to Vice Romania that the rooms varied in standard with some opulently decorated while others scarcely had any furniture, depending on the prison’s budget.

The frequency of conjugal visits also varied from jail to jail, with men seemingly less keen to visit their wives or girlfriends that have been locked up.

‘Some facilities allow visits once or three times a week, while the Gherla Penitentiary for example, is booked almost nonstop,’ he said.

‘They actually have two rooms there. On the other hand, the intimate room in Târguşor Prison – which is an all-female prison – is hardly ever used.’