Was wondering how others deal with this or how they feel about helping keep friends connected through the system? I am NOT talking any ILLEGAL activity, gangs etc, although i would assume most are aware it is NOT permitted for inmates to keep in contact and i guess therefore illegal(?), but was talking more in terms of friendships formed over a great length of time inside, especially the one's doing life.

Personally, i have not re written mail to another, nor have i placed other mail inside my letters, but have copied and sent photo's, enclosing a small note, or card in my own words. I understand why inmate contact is not allowed, only under certain conditions, but can't help but put myself in the shoes of these people, many have grown up inside, friendships formed, strong bonds........

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If you are compassionate in your approach to all tasks in life, believing that all "problems" contain valuable lessons, you will find peace of mind.
~Dr. Lee Jampolsky

Junior struggles with this.

You see, he was on death row with a lot of people. Death Row inmates, especially in Texas rely on each other for this and that and they DO FORM LASTING FRIENDSHIPS.

We all know things change with time... In his case he is no longer on death row. He has 'friends' who are in other units, some serving time, some serving death and some serving life. They do wonder about one another from time to time.

One of his friends once wrote him a letter and mailed it to me, even asked me to mail it in. It was a simple letter, nothing serious in it. I was about to mail it out when I realized how serious the consequences are or could be, just for mailing it in.

A friend was doing the same for Joe and his former girl friend. The mail room caught on and Joe lost mail and visitation privileges for 6 months. If caught again, he could lose mail for much longer.

I guess the DOC's have their rules for a reason and they have to ensure the safety of those incarcerated and not. Because so many illegal activities are doing through the mail, they can not take any chances.

It really depends on which system it is and how strict they are.

When it comes to Junior and his friends, they write me and I tell him so and so said what's up, he is working in the kitchen , enjoying visits and blah blah blah. I don't want to risk either offenders case record, so I won't pass messages, or at least direct letters to them. I know how important staying case free is.

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William Jennings Bryan

I would agree with Skye on this. It really is another one of those situations where though you might have the best intentions in mind and are only trying to help, you can create much larger problems for not only your pen pal, but several other inmates. I think it’s a regulation that is kind of across the boards for the simple reason that staff can not tell who is involved with what or if the message is something disguised as an order etc...You don’t want another man on a yard to end up dead somewhere and have it be in part your fault. So please be careful if you continue.

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

Since a few months my bf's cousin is in the hole. Before it was possible for them to have contact. Not at the moment anymore. Now im the one who send him cards with our both names on, and wish him all the strenght. And also letters, no weird or sneaky messages. I just let him know how my bf is doing.

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Beneath the make up & Behind the smile
I'm just a girl who wishes for the world
(Marilyn Monroe)

some states allow inmate to inmate correspondences, but some dont.

I have passed letters before, for some of my pals. BUT. it was a simple letter telling the other how his case was ect ect.

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I need coffee

There are some states who allow it, with approval. It typically has to be a relative (mother, father, brother, sister, husband, wife).

My friend Joe was able to correspond with his father while they were both incarcerated.

The approval generally comes from the wardens office, at least in Texas it does.

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William Jennings Bryan

I understand about families keeping in touch, but was interested to hear you say lulu that some states allow correspondence from inmate to inmate. Just goes to show it really does matter what state you reside in when Prison rules/regulations come into effect.

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If you are compassionate in your approach to all tasks in life, believing that all "problems" contain valuable lessons, you will find peace of mind.
~Dr. Lee Jampolsky

Well as Skye just explained, it under very special/limited circumstances and normally family which would not include pen pals. I can clearly see the reason for the regulation being enforced. You could be cross posting something that seems perfectly harmless, next thing you know, another inmate is knifed on a yard that you knew nothing about. I could see if you had been writing the inmate for a very long time and the situations were different, but not solely based on what has been described here.

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"Thats it then, they will go on double, secret, probation..."

ok, evil side of me here..... i have done this, i just start out the letter like I normally would and then tell him I am going to do something I will be back, when I come back, i write the letter from the friend in it, making sure there are no names or anything of that sort in it, then I again excuse myself and come back and finish my letter. He knows that the insert is his letter and he responds with a different form of my nickname on the letter.

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Life throws curve balls, get battin and stay strong! Momof6

Here's the reality of all this. Some States MAY allow inmate to inmate correspondence, but MOST do not. Those that do, allow it in very restricted circumstances, as Skye has pointed out. I can't say for certain, not knowing the regulations of EVERY State DOC in the U.S., but I would guess it would be very rare to permit this kind of correspondence.

That being said - - - - I revisit what I've said in the past. If it WAS permitted, your penpal would have no reason to ask YOU to pass on the letter, or to reproduce it in your own handwriting under the guise of being a letter from you to the other inmate. The long and short of this is that you are violating a DOC regulation by doing either one of these (redirecting the letter, or reproducing it).

Realistically, you can probably get away with doing that for some time (especially the reproduction method), but you still run the risk of being discovered through a random examination of incoming mail. The odds are not that great, but the possibility exists.

Once you are discovered, the penalties are varied. YOU, as a correspondent, do not have a legal right to correspond with an inmate. Mail into and out of the institution is a "qualified privilege". This means that, in order to maintain that contact, you must comply with the rules that regulate such correspondence. If you, as a private citizen, violate those rules, the least that could happen is that your correspondence privileges with that particular inmate could be terminated, either temporarily or permanently. This would apply to the inmate you are passing correspondence to, and to the inmate from whom the original correspondence originates.

The inmate(s) involved could suffer more severe penalties. First, their correspondence with YOU could be terminated completely, and their correspondence with others could be either suspended or terminated because they knowingly solicited another to violate the rules of correspondence. Secondly, they could be subjected to disciplinary action, up to and including temporary segregation. This disciplinary action then goes on their permanent prison behavior record, which later, has a demonstrable negative effect on things such as job assignments, security classifications, and yes, parole.

We all get a thrill out of getting away with something we know we're not supposed to be doing. That's human nature. For the most part, there are no negative consequences to others due to our actions (or inactions). In cases such as this, however, the inmate has much more to lose, if discovered, than you do. In this case, there ARE potential negative consequences to others due to your actions.

There are a lot of rules and regulations that most either do not agree with, or that are not understood, because the logics behind the rule or regulation are not immediately recognizable to the lay-person. With that, many tend to lean toward violating the rule or regulation more out of the mere ignorance of the legitimacy of the rule or regulation.

The fact that you don't agree with the rule or regulation is not a defense to a violation of it. So, when "the other shoe drops", many tend to be incensed with the notion that the institution found something you see as so insignificant to be "such a big deal". If you go into something with that frame of mind (thinking it's not really that harmful to anyone), you are going into it either uninformed, or misinformed. It IS a big deal, or the rule / regulation would not exist in the first place.

What you have to consider here is how you would feel if, eventually, this WAS discovered, and your pal ended up serving time in segregation for a rules infraction, and has to carry that black mark forward to the Parole Board. Further, you would have no way of knowing WHAT penalty the inmate received from your actions, because he would then be prohibited from writing to you in order to explain the punishment he received because you all thought it was "no big deal".