Does anyone know about the pp florida Laws and if they really enforce that law. I was also wondering if you find it hard talking to your pp about certain things because of this law...

Givchat, I thought you were suppose to be working???!!!! LOL. Now the now the laws you are talking about regarding you cannot mention you saw their ad on a PP site??? I just never mention that I saw their ad on a PP site, just say I got you addy from so and so, thats all.

The law was created so they couldnt solicit for pen pals, as in they arent supposed to post an ad, so once you have there name and addy as long as you dont state you got it from an ad then you can treat those in florida the same as any where else, i always say i got there name from there friend or aunt or sister or whatever the case may be.

I read in newspaper articles they intend to inforce the disciplinary action, but never heard any personal stories.

sssshhhhhhh....don't tell anybody....lol...thanks for the reply..squirell your full of information and I thank you so much

I hate to be the one to kill a really good urban myth but....

Jeb Bush thought it would be a good idea to make it illegal for Florida inmates to advertise for Pen Pals, and he started the ball rolling.

Of course the result was opposition and petitions etc. (there was even a petition here sponsored by WAP), which of course didn't have any real effect...but all of a sudden the idea got dropped. The law was never introduced and never passed. It just evaporated.

But here is what I think happened. Someone at the DOC took old Jeb aside and said...."Gee boss, do you know how much money we make off these guys who write inmates? Letters beget money into the Inmate Bank that we get to invest and make the interest off...letters turn into phone calls from the inmates...we made $3.4 million dollars in 2004 alone off of these inmates calling their Pen Pals. So maybe we should rethink this whole no Pen Pals advertising thing. Whata ya say boss?" And the law went away.

So there is no law...no punishment for inmates...nothing. Just keep sending them money and taking those calls and we have a friend in Jeb!

The mailroom guys kind of like us a lot too 'cause they get to keep their jobs.

Just my thoughts

Tom

__________________
An eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind!

Hey why did he wanna pass such legislation in the first place, do ya know? That just seems so harsh!

that make since to me Tom, its all about the money.

Hey Tess...does the name Bush mean anything to you?

Enough said!

Tom

__________________
An eye for an eye and soon the whole world is blind!

I'm not so sure about it not being a law - or rule, anymore. I don't know if anyone else has noticed but ads from prisoners in Florida looking for penpals have greatly decreased.

When I first began writing to inmates - over 4 years ago, it seemed every other ad was from a prisoner incarcerated in Florida, but now there's nowhere near as many.

If the "powers that be" have decided to ignore this rule I think they should inform the inmates. Just think how many poor souls are managing without a penpal, are doing this time on their own because they wrongfully think they can't advertise for a friend.
Jeff

A DOC rule was indeed passed in August of 2003 forbidding inmates to "solicit" for pen pals. You can get friends to write to your incarcerated loved one, but the inmate himself cannot place ads. This supposedly was to cut down on inmates hustling outsiders.
In 2003 I got a fellow member of another Internet Group I belong to to write to one of my pals. She said in her letter something like, "Mike told me you would like to have a female pen pal..."with a note saying "No pen pals allowed."
In September one of my pals did place an ad. Two people who responded mentioned in their letters that they were responding to his pen pal ad. As a result he got 50 days in disciplinary confinement, lost phone and visitation privileges, and the letters were not even given to him. Also he is forbidden to contact the site to request the ad be removed! He became afraid of getting any more responses because it could mean more time in confinement. With winter coming, being in confinement means having no clothes other than boxers to wear, and no heat.He wrote me letters saying, "please contact you-know-who and ask them to remove you-know-what." I sent these letters to the webmaster of the site along with my own letter explaining, and the ad was removed.
So this new rule is definitely being enforced.