Prison should not be a dating service

Something rational in the state of Denmark

Peter Madsen is a Danish man convicted in the brutal 2017 murder of journalist Kim Wall, who had ventured aboard Madsen’s homemade submarine for a story. Later, her torso, head and limbs were found after being dumped in the waters off Copenhagen.

Madsen was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the gruesome crime — which apparently made him something of a catch for certain women. As The Guardian reported, Madsen met and married Russian artist Jenny Curpen in 2020, after he had been convicted and sentenced to life.

Worse, he had a relationship — phone calls and written correspondence — with a 17-year-old schoolgirl.

From The Guardian:

Denmark to outlaw life sentence prisoners starting new romances

Jails should not serve as ‘dating centres or media platforms to brag about crimes’, says minister

Peter Madsen in May 2017. It emerged that a 17-year-old fell in love with the murderer of the journalist Kim Wall while he was in prison. Photograph: Mikko Suominen/Getty Images

Jon Henley Europe correspondent

@jonhenley

Fri 17 Sep 2021 05.52 EDT

Prisoners serving life sentences in Denmark are to be prevented from starting new romantic relationships after it emerged a 17-year-old fell in love with Peter Madsen, the murderer of the journalist Kim Wall, while he was in jail.

Justice Minister Nick Hækkerup explained, “We have seen distasteful examples in recent years of prisoners who have committed vile crimes contacting young people in order to gain their sympathy and attention. This must obviously be stopped.”

As a rule, I support family visits. Inmates’ families can help offenders as they try to rehabilitate themselves and commit to becoming contributing members to society. That’s why some U.S. states accommodate family visitation, including conjugal visits, to help convicted criminals choose the right path.

Really, family visits are a good thing.

Except when it comes to violent, repeat offenders whose crimes are so heinous that they are expected to spend the rest of their lives behind bars. There should be no sleep-overs for inmates on Death Row, as well as violent repeat offenders serving life sentences, those convicted of sex offenses.

That hasn’t stopped death-row inmates from marrying - even if their brides and they cannot have much of a honeymoon.

Night stalker Richard Ramirez famously married editor Doreen Lioy after he was found guilty of 13 murders. “One loved rape and worshipped Satan, the other was a God fearing spinster,” read a story on the nuptials.

The San Francisco Chronicle’s Peter Fimrite reported that convicted wife killer Scott Peterson had been in prison for about an hour when his first marriage proposal popped.

Yes, there are some really sick women out there. As Fimrite reported,

Richard Allen Davis, the man who kidnapped 12-year-old Polly Klaas from her Petaluma home in 1993 and killed her, "probably gets more mail than most," (a correctional official) said.

I talked to Mark Klaas, Polly’s father, about Davis and the Danish push to limit violent offenders’ access to the outside world. After all, the only reason women are interested in them is because “they’re trading on their notoriety.”

Klaas said Hækkerup’s reaction was “fantastic,” and lamented that the idea likely would get “no traction at all in California.” If anything, Klaas offered, Sacramento seems more likely to expand conjugal visits to death-row inmates.

If you’re on death row or facing decades in prison, you have little incentive not to sue the state for visitation or other privileges.

I remember writing a column that ran on Sept. 11, 2001 about a violent repeat offender who, since he could not enjoy conjugal visits with his wife, sued to force the state to allow him tobe a sperm donor so that his wife could conceive a child with him. (Spoiler alert: Courts ultimately ruled against William Reno Gerber and his wife.)

Inmates lose rights when they are convicted and sentenced to hard time. They can’t vote in prison. They can’t go wherever they want to go. Until their sentences end, they are not free. The Supreme Court ruled that inmates have a right to marry, even if they could not co-habit.

Here’s hoping the Danes can find a way to limit the social lives of men in prison for violent murders. They shouldn’t be pen pals with underage girls. If there’s a legal way to prevent them from surfing for “killer groupies,” that would be a good thing.

It’s important to distinguish between the spouses of inmates who tied the knot before their husbands were convicted and the sort of seriously delusional people who are drawn to convicted murderers and eager to serve as their agents.

Debra J. Saunders is a fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Chapman Center for Citizen Leadership. Contact her at dsaunders@discovery.org. Sign up below for alerts for future posts.

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