We wrote last week that the MSNBC documentary series Lockup: Raw was running an episode that explored love behind bars, and that it would include discussion of gay relationships in prison.

The "Locked-Up Love" episode aired this past Saturday and while it was fascinating in the way that pretty much any documentary about prison life can't help but be, the gay elements were questionably handled. 

Though same-sex relationships behind bars was the first subject tackled, the emphasis was not on anything that most gay men would identify with. Three of the men interviewed were identified as "gay", but one was actually transgender and wants to become a woman, which is a different situation altogether. Another of the gay men didn't have any relationships, intimate or sexual (the bulk of his interview focused on his explaining that he likes to "look like a girl" and how no one has friends in prison), and the third was a foot fetishist involved in some sort of relationship with another inmate (we see him massaging the other man's foot while he is interviewed). 

These men are of course free (well, relatively) to do whatever it is that makes them happy while they are incarcerated. But I have to think that there are plenty more gay men in prison whose situations and stories were not represented here, where the emphasis was on sexual gratification, not love. I'm not sure what happened to the couple pictured above (who spoke candidly about their intimate emotional relationship in the preview clip we posted), but they were nowhere to be seen.

Considering that the other segments dealt with straight inmates marrying women, conjugal and family visits, and incarcerated siblings, to not feature a single "gay" couple with an actual emotional relationship in an episode called "Prison Love" seems like a missed opportunity.

(Note: There was a segment that focused on a long-term lesbian prison couple, but the implication was made early on that women are different from men and that this is to be somehow expected.) 

But there was one subject discussed in the episode that I did find fascinating:

Prison cats. 

A full segment was devoted to inmates who adopt stray cats (or even, in one case, a gopher) as surrogates for human companions. I guess it's easier for a felon to cuddle a tabby out in the open than his prison boyfriend.

The 4th of July weekend is a time for families and friends of all ages, races, and sexes to celebrate the freedoms that come with being an American. On July 5th, MSNBC's prison documentary series Lockup launched a new batch of episodes sure to guilt us Americans into reconsidering what it means to be free. Why are we posting this, you may ask?

If you're like me, you're enthralled with prison life and the relationships between men that are incarcerated.  Just look at the intrigue generated for the upcoming Jim Carrey/Ewan McGregor prison romance I Love You Phillip Morris, and don't forget HBO's groundbreaking serial Oz which gave us some of the most compelling and complicated relationships, same-sex or otherwise, to ever be broadcast on television.

On July 12th at 10pm EST, Lockup: Raw will focus on same-sex relationships behind bars with a new episode entitled "Locked-up Love." 

After the break, watch a sneak peek at one happy inmate couple on the eve of possible co-habitation as they talk about being out and the complications that arise courtesy of the penal (sorry, I had to) system.