(Sacramento, California) Gay and lesbian inmates in California prisons will be allowed to marry under new guidelines tentatively approved by the California Department of Corrections.

But in cases where both spouses are incarcerated they will not be allowed to share a cell a spokesperson for the department told Capitol Weekly, a publication on California politics.

Under the new rules gay and lesbian inmates will have the same rights as straight prisoners.

It is not known if any gay prisoner has sought to marry a partner. But department of corrections spokesperson Seth Unger told Capitol Weekly that preventing same-sex marriages likely would not stand up in court. He also said that conservative groups who might challenge the new regulation would likely lose.

Unger also defended the decision not to allow two same-sex inmates to marry and then share a cell saying the same practice holds for opposite-sex couples.

While opposite-sex inmates are housed in separate facilities, there are different circumstances involving prisoners of the same-sex he said, pointing to the potential for inmates with money or other assets to find themselves coerced into marriages with more powerful inmates, who then might try to lay claim to half of their net worth.

“We have never permitted inmates to marry other inmates in the past,” Unger told Capitol Weekly. “We do believe it would pose safety and security concerns at our prisons.”

The California Supreme Court in May struck down the state ban on same-sex marriage.

Social conservatives are attempting to pass a constitutional amendment that would nullify the court ruling.  The issue will go to voters in November.

Recent polls suggest the election could be close. A Field Poll taken last month found that 51 percent of likely voters said they would vote against Proposition 8, while 42 percent said they would vote for it.