Hi,
I am from Australia and as I cannot find a resource like this for my own country I am thinking of writing to US prisoners.
I was wondering how many different pen pals some of you choose to write to?
( I know it will vary but I'm curious.)
I have chosen two men ( both who said they would accept international mail)out of the not recieving mail list as I don't want to write to someone who is recieving tons of mail already. As I don't live in the US I would not know how "famous" an inmate may be ... I presume some of the more publicised cases would attract for lack of a better word groupies.
If I recieve a reply from one or either of these people should I let WAP know so they can be taken off the not recieving mail list?
Do you find you generally get a reply? Has anyone just chosen to not reply to you?
Also have any ladies in relationships written to male inmates and how does your partner react to this ?
Thanks for taking the time to read (and hopefully respond) to this,
goatlady

WOW lots of ???'s

First Welcome

Good choice I think to pick from not recieveing mail list,,,But the inmate is the one to write WAP and has infor on how too,, is how they come off the not rec,, mail list,,,

I personnally wrote lifers,,two,,, and one who would get out in 2yrs,,, I wrote lifers,, feeling they had been inside so long,, and so long to go,,,had lost contact w/family and friends and forgotten over time,, or deaths in family,,,

If the ads came off WAP you picked I am not aware of a high profile one being on here at this time,,,

Yes,, you will be very likely to get a reply,,esp picking not rec mail,,, but,, be patient it does take time,,you can one time email an individual inmate for ea inmate ,,,thru WAP for first contact,, but,, that takes time too,,maybe more so and better chance of getting faster reply reg mail,,, also I would suggest if first time writing read the homepage,, and it will give ideas on first letters,, what to watch for as well as this forum,,,,

Happy Writing and hope to see you on the forum,,,and let us know how going or if any questions or just to give a view,,,opinion or whatever you like ....

__________________

Welcome Goatlady!
I have written to 9 penpals and currently am still writing to 8. I wrote 7 to begin with and assumed not all would write back, but they did!

It's good that you chose inmates that want international mail, as postage costs may be a concern for some. WAP won't do anything to an inmate's ad if requested from an outside person (to my knowledge). In order to be removed from the list the inmate would have to notify WAP or they would get an email forward so WAP sees they have gotten a response. I don't think it will hurt anything to leave him on the list, prison is a very lonely place and he could likely use all the penpals he can get.

You mentioned infamous inmates - I haven't seen an ad from one I would call infamous, and I think that's because they get so much unsolicited mail they couldn't possibly respond to all that, so no need to advertise for more.

I have received a reply from everyone I wrote. The only cases where I've heard people not getting responses is mostly from women. It appears female inmates may generally receive more mail and therefore can't or decide not to reply to every letter.

I am in a committed relationship and wanted to make sure my partner was comfortable with me writing to male inmates (I connect better with men than women). He was fine with it and there has been no problem whatsoever, I even show him some things my penpals send me, like cards and drawings. Of course I was also careful to choose penpals that were looking for friendship and not a romantic relationship and told them my situation up front.

Hope this helped, if you have any more questions feel free to PM me or post again!

welcome to the family!

__________________
A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world.
~ Leo Buscaglia

Welcome to WAP!!

I'm an Aussie as well - east coast gal. I only write to the one PP, but have written to 4 in the past. I did a fair amount of research in to writing to prisoners as I have had non-prisoner pen pals for almost 15 years now. I found that the prisoner penpals usually show more interest and are more thankful for your letters than non-prisoners. I still write to other non prisoners. It is best to go for the ads that say they are willing to write to international penpals, however some may end up stopping the writing as it gets a bit expensive. I had one that did that - he put me on to a cellmate of his that was able to afford the postage more often than he was. I ended up giving my friend his details & they have been writing for 6 months now.

I have been in a relationship for almost 8 years now - my husband thinks it's a bit strange that I now write to prisoners, but he has started contributing to my PP's letters - finding jokes off the internet, making sure I have a good supply of stamps - he even signed my PP's birthday card My PP in return respects our relationship...even asks about my husband in our letters.

I was lucky to find a good PP. I have also found that women prisoners are less likely to write to female PP's cause they are surrounded by females all day - my personal experience only I'm sure there are others on here that would disagree with me!

Good luck, and don't take any rubbish from anyone. Receiving a letter from you is a privilege to them, not a right.

*hugs*
Sarah

__________________
Even if happiness forgets you a little bit, never completely forget about it. ~JACQUES PREVERT

G'day lady, as you can see i'm also from the land of OZ.(smiles) I write a few guys, some on Death Row and some have Life sentences. One only a few years left. I am also married, have an honest relationship with my hubby so he knows my true thoughts and feelings. I went to America last year and visited one pal i have been writing a long while now, who is more like another member of our family, while hubby stayed home and kept the fort running with our 5 kids. Without his support that simply would of not been possible.
Even with me being overseas, i have never not received a reply to a letter i have sent out.
Funny you ask about what our partners think, i say this because the guys i write ask me this same question in mostly ALL the first letter. Some are cautious because of experiences they have seen through friends inside, or themselves. I have been told that a woman will often ditch a pp because the husband has given an ultimatum. Some pp's have fallen in love with married women etc. So i can understand where they are coming from, but so far i have been truly blessed with some really great friends and loved ones. I have never really had any problems with anyone crossing a line they were not welcome over. Wrote one guy a while back, but he had mental health issues and as much as i tried, i could not continue getting bed time stories to put it politely.(smiles)
Only comment i would like to make is, if you are in a relationship, please take the time to talk to your partner as it may spare any pains in the future for all concerned. Happy writing and enjoy.