Italy's first-ever sex room for prisoners went into operation on Friday, when an inmate was allowed a visit from his female partner in a special facility at a jail in the central Umbria region.

The private visits for some prisoners follow a Constitutional Court ruling that recognised inmates' right to have "intimate meetings" with partners visiting from outside.

"We are happy because everything went smoothly but it is necessary to maintain the maximum privacy to protect the people involved," Umbria's ombudsman for prisoners' rights, Giuseppe Caforio, told the ANSA news agency.

"We can say that a sort of experiment went well and in the next few days there will be other meetings," he said of the first intimate meeting at the prison in Terni.

In the ruling published in January 2024, the court said inmates should have the right to private meetings with spouses or long-term partners, with no prison guards watching over them.

The ruling noted that so-called conjugal visits were already allowed in a majority of European countries. The list includes France, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Sweden and others.

The justice ministry last week issued guidelines stating that inmates granted intimate meetings should have access to a room with a bed and a toilet for up to two hours.

The guidelines said the room's door should remain unlocked, giving prison guards the possibility to intervene if needed.

Italy's prisons have one of the worst overcrowding rates in Europe, and have recorded a spike in suicides recently. According to official data, the country has over 62,000 inmates, more than 21% above the official maximum capacity of prisons.