Sex toys in jails: relief or anti-gay gadgets?

Sex was on people’s minds at a recent debate in Zimbabwean senate. Adult toys are a way to suppress homosexual practices in prisons, said one MP. Her proposal is called “a joke” by a minister in the government of rabidly anti-gay President Robert Mugabe. But in this country where intercourse between men is illegal, many are not laughing.
By Nkosana Dlamini, Harare
“In other countries they provide sex gadgets and they have also set up rooms where [inmates] go and service themselves when the desire arises,” stated MP Sithembile Mlotshwa, talking about life in jails.
According to this MDC coalition party lawmaker, such provisions would stop prisoners from engaging in same-sex activities and spreading homosexuality in the community after their release.
“Just masturbate”
Mlotshwa’s idea tallies with what some others advise those behind bars.
“Should you want to relieve sexual stress, just masturbate,” a jail warden told Langton Mathema. Incidentally, the convicted rapist just completed his six-year sentence. “I found the advice quite welcome since bully prisoners usually force themselves on young and new inmates through homosexual acts," said Mathema.
Food, not fornication
“This is a joke in bad taste,” said Deputy Minister of Justice Obert Gutu about Mlotshwa’s proposal. 
Gutu believes sex toys would present an unnecessary cost to a country that is failing to stem hunger and sickness in its overcrowded jails. “Our prisoners are starving. They are exposed to rampant disease. One is better-off eating than having sex,” he said.
Rugare Gumbo, a spokesperson for Mugabe's Zanu-PF, claimed his party would not offer policy solutions in this area. "We are on record as being against homosexuality. Its being practised in jails because inmates cannot access female partners does not make it attractive to us. I will not comment on how they can relieve sexual stress […] as these are issues to be handled by the Justice Ministry,” he stated.[related-articles]
Men are different
Others feel inmates should be permitted to have sex for health reasons. “Sperm needs to be released at least once every two weeks,” said a medical practitioner at a government hospital who prefers not to be named “for professional reasons”.
Not ejaculating regularly, he said, can lead to physical pain in the testes and future prostate problems. According to him, a woman’s vagina can go longer without sexual activity, although this runs the risk of cervical cancer.
Edson Chiota, head of the Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender (ZACRO), takes another stance. “We would advocate for an open prison instead, where convicts can access sex,” he said. In his view, sex is “so much a human right”.