Public Case Spotlight: The Right to Marry in Prison (Turner v. Safley)

Public case spotlight. This is a factual, plain-language summary of a publicly documented U.S. Supreme Court decision, provided for general information only. It is not legal advice and does not promise or guarantee any particular outcome. How any decision applies depends on the specific facts, the facility, the jurisdiction, and current law.

In Turner v. Safley (1987), the Supreme Court reviewed two Missouri prison rules — one limiting mail between incarcerated people, and one restricting marriage.

Reported outcome. According to the source, the Court held that people in prison retain a constitutionally protected right to marry and struck down the marriage restriction. It also set a widely used standard, often called the “Turner test”: a prison rule that limits a right must be “reasonably related to legitimate penological interests.”

That standard is still used today to evaluate many prison regulations.

Source: Turner v. Safley, 482 U.S. 78 (1987), Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center — supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/482/78/